


Twinkle, Twinkle, Little star

by SuspiciousLandlady



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternative Universe - Dead Space, Blood and Gore, Character Deaths, Dead Space AU, Hallucinations, Horror, I'll tag more when it's necessary, Is there any hope, It's possibly getting very gore at the times, M/M, Multi, Necromorphs, Outer Space, Virus, Vomiting, mysterious behavior, strange whispers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-03
Updated: 2015-06-25
Packaged: 2018-03-16 05:16:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 56,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3475847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuspiciousLandlady/pseuds/SuspiciousLandlady
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's year 2508. Marco Bodt is a nurse, working in the old Planet-Cracking ship called USG Ishimura. Suddenly during the ordinary planet mining, the crew finds huge and strange looking artifact. The artifact is called the Marker and it's identical with the other artifact what was found on the Earth during the year 2214 . The Marker is moved immediately to USG Ishimura. Week after the Marker has been found, people starts to act weird on the mining planet. Some of them are mumbling and screaming strange things and there's big amount of dead bodies. No one knows for sure why these people are acting like this. Marco deals with dead bodies every day now and it's getting to his nerves. He can't help them much, because he's just a nurse. Suddenly everything goes dark and USG Ishimura sends distress signal.</p><p>Jean and others are sent to travel with little shuttle, USG Kellion, to check USG Ishimura and repair the problems. But when they arrive to the Ishimura, there's no one around the deck, no one waiting for their arrival. They don't know what is waiting them in USG Ishimura.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone!  
> This is my very first fanfic and because I have weird brain, this is what came up on my mind. I've started to play Dead Space again, the last time I played it was when I was like 13 or 14 years old. I love this horror game too much.
> 
> Anyway, I got this strange idea so why not. You should always try new things, right? ^^
> 
> Enjoy!! ^_^ This is only prologue, so we will see only two characters in this piece.
> 
> btw, this is the song what inspired me while I was writing this:  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHZ_apAW-4c

_Twinkle, twinkle, little star,_

_How I wonder what you are._

_Up above the world so high,_

_Like a diamond in the sky._

_When the blazing sun is gone,_

_When the nothing shines upon,_

_Then you show your little light,_

_Twinkle, twinkle, all the night..._

 

　

 

It was supposed to be like any other day. But it wasn't. There was blood everywhere. The Medical Deck of the great spaceship, USG Ishimura, was having a serious situation. There were too much dead bodies.

USG Ishimura was the first Planet-Cracker class ship. She was created for mining and smelting entire planets and moons. They searched for mineral-rich asteroids. Mining wasn't the only purpose of the Ishimura. It was also functioned as a medical research vessel.

"Hold him!" old doctor said. It was hard for Marco to hold down the man who was clearly having some kind of panic attack. The man was saying crazy things. Everyone who was shipped back to Ishimura from the newest mining planet was in some kind of strange state of mind.

After they had found this big artifact, which was called The Marker, everything went crazy down on the planet. People started to kill each other. No one knows why. Bodies were shipped back to Ishimura with the survivors and people who had escaped.

Doctor gave sedatives to the man. He was squirming a lot, until the medicine kicked in and the man fell asleep. When it was sure that the man was out cold, Marco finally let go. He looked at the sleeping man and wondered, what had happened down there. What had caused this man go to this state of mind.

When the freckled man got permission to leave, he quickly went to search for his friend. Marco Bodt was one of the Ishimura's Medical staff. Well, he was only nurse who helped doctors, but that was more than enough for him. And when things like these happened, he was really relieved that he wasn't a doctor.

"Hi Marco, you look tired" tall, black haired man said and it made Marco stop. He looked behind and saw his friend, Bertholdt, who was also nurse. They had studied together and it was a little bit of a surprise when they found out that both of them were hired to USG Ishimura.

"I am tired. This is getting very serious", Marco said and sighed. As soon as Bertholdt was next to him, he saw that the taller man wasn't doing any better. "You look tired as well. Did you had struggling patient too?" freckled man asked and was answered with a tiny nod.

They both walked slowly on the big corridor in an awkward silence. The only voice they heard was their echoing footsteps. The Medical Deck had these doors that muted most of the sounds inside the medical rooms.

They walked and walked until they were at the little tram station. USG Ishimura was huge, very huge. It was logical for it to have its very own tram system inside the ship. It was a fast way to travel from deck to another.

"Have you heard anything about Reiner?" Marco asked after he and Bertholdt hopped on to the tram. Just the thought of Reiner made Bertholdt smile a little bit. "Yeah, we send messages to each other. I miss him so much. I also miss all the cuddlings and the kisses", Bertholdt said and Marco chuckled. "How about you and Jean?" taller man asked and Marco smiled to him. "You don't have to guess how much I miss him. After we land back to earth, I won't let him escape from me." Bertholdt chuckled and nodded.

They had been in the Ishimura for six months already. They were far from the Earth. But now that the Marker had been found, they would soon head back to home. The church was very interested about it.

There was a religion to this Marker thing. They were called The Unitologist Cult. They worshiped that strange artifact. During the year 2214, the Earth Government discovered an alien artifact on Earth. It was found in Mexico and after it had been found, the new religion, Unitology was born. The Marker on Earth was called the Black Marker. Some people believed that it was an evil thing. Local people called it "The Tail of the Devil" because the Marker looked like it had two tails wrapped together.

And now people were excited because of this new Marker they had found on the planet. It was moved to the Ishimura. This new artifact was huge. But after the discovery of the new Marker, things went bad. People started to go crazy.

The tram stopped and some of the people left it. New people came in and then the tram was moving again. Marco yawned. He had been helping the doctors all day and now he was tired like everyone else. He was also tired of dead bloody bodies and patients with their strange mumblings and screamings.

"I think I'm going to have nightmares if this continues", Marco said and sighed. He wanted to help these people, but even when he tried his best, it wasn't any help.

"Today I heard this one woman mumbling strange things I haven't heard before. She was telling me that it was her body. Her flesh, her bones, her blood. I wanted to ask her why she was saying all that stuff. She said it like I or someone else wanted to take her body. She committed suicide an hour after those mumblings. It was terrifying and I'm still confused about it", Bertholdt whispered. Marco was able to see all the fear in his friend's eyes.

When the tram finally stopped at the right station, they both left it and started walking through the echoing corridors once more. They had arrived to the Crew Deck. It was a huge place where all the workers rested and it was the place where the sleep blocks were. The Crew Deck also had several small lounges, a mess hall and of course the best one, a Zero-G basketball court. Because who hasn't ever wanted to play basketball in the room with zero gravity? It was fun and if you didn't have anything to do, you were always able to find someone to play basketball with.

"I'm going to get something to eat. You want anything?" Bertholdt asked and looked at his friend. Marco shaked his head. He wasn't hungry. Not after Bertl's story about the woman. "I'll go to sleep. I'm too tired to eat", Marco said and smiled a little bit. His friend nodded and left him alone.

Marco went straight to his room and sighed again. It was hard to do anything when you had to see so much death everywhere. He couldn't stop thinking about Bertholdt's story. How bad is the situation down on the mining planet when people started to say things like that? About their body, their flesh and everything being theirs. It was a sure thing that their bodies belonged to them. What were they afraid of? What had they experienced down there? Marco was sure that the Bridge wouldn't tell anyone about what's happening. He bet that the captain only wanted to take the Marker and leave. But they still had minings to do, so they couldn't leave just yet.

The room was pretty boring to be honest. Metallic walls weren't entertaining to watch. There were two closets, two uncomfortable beds, two tables and two chairs. He didn't live alone in this block. But lucky for him, he and Bertholdt shared it. Thank god. He didn't feel so lonely with Bertl.

They both missed their boyfriends. It wasn't so easy to try to be in contact with them. They were so far from the Earth. Marco liked to send messages to Jean every day, but he wasn't sure if the blond man got any of them anymore. At first Jean had replied to them, but now there was nothing. Signals might be too weak for communication. But if Bertholdt was able to send messages to Reiner, why couldn't Marco do the same?

Marco sat down and took his laptop. Even though technology was advanced so much, those new products didn't look so different from the earlier versions. Like Marco's laptop. Sure, it had cool things like hologram screen and keyboard, but it didn't look so different after all. Marco decided to make todays video message. He placed his computer on the table and turned recording on.

"Hi Jean. It's Marco", he said and had little smile on his face. "I hope you are alright. I miss you. I'm not sure if you get my messages, but I hope you get these."

Marco went silent and took a couple of minutes to think. Then he looked at the screen again. "I don't know what to do anymore. Something's not right. We got another big amount of dead bodies today. Something is making these people out of their mind. I don't know what is going on down there, but this is clearly very serious situation", Marco said and sighed. He was so tired of being so helpless. He wanted to help. He really wanted to. But he didn't know how. He was just a nurse.

"Bertholdt told me scary things today. About some woman mumbling some strange things. She committed suicide, but the things she said.... even though I wasn't there, even though I heard them from Bertholdt, it's still making me feel so terrified. I hope we won't stay long here. I want to go home and be with you." Marco smiled a little bit about the idea of being home with Jean.

"I love you Jean. When we come back to Earth, I will drown you with hugs and kisses. You should start to prepare yourself. I won't hold back and you can't stop me", Marco said and chuckled. He smiled to the screen and ended the video.

When the video was sent, Marco moved to the bed and closed his eyes. He was so tired that it didn't take long until he was asleep. The dreams he saw were always beautiful and full of things he loved. Well, mostly he saw dreams about Jean.

He was having another sweet dream. Beautiful dream about Jean. But suddenly the dream started to turn into disturbing nightmare. There was blood everywhere and dead bodies. Jean had disappeared. Marco tried to find him, but there were only rotting corpses. It was getting dark. So much screaming around him. Marco covered his ears and closed his eyes.

No, this wasn't the dream he wanted. When he finally opened his eyes, he saw Jean again. But it wasn't the Jean he wanted to see. This Jean had blood all over him. He stared at Marco with bloodshot eyes. It was like he was staring straight into his soul. "Oi, Marco... they want our bodies", Jean said. Little droplets of blood was leaking from corner of his mouth. "They want your body. They want my body. They want everyone. I don't want to give it to them. This is mine." Jean started to scratch his hand. He scratched and scratched until it was bleeding. "Please..... Please stop it..." Marco whined. Jean didn't stop. He scratched his hand. His flesh. When he finally stopped, he just stood there and stared at Marco. "THIS IS MY BODY!" Jean screamed suddenly.

Marco woke up when someone was shaking him. He almost jumped. He was so scared. The dream was so ugly and horrible. Everything felt like twisted. When he realized that Bertholdt was the one who was in the room, he felt relieved. But then he took another look and noticed that Bertholdt's white clothes were covered with blood.

"Bertholdt?" Marco said, looking at his friend. The black haired man wasn't only covered in blood, he was also looking terrified. Like he had seen hell or something. "Marco please, don't speak loud", Bertholdt whispered. Marco was confused. "We have to stay quiet. There's dead bodies everywhere. If you want to stay alive, trust me, it's better to whisper", he continued, looking at Marco with very serious face. Something was definitely going on. Something terrible.

 

  
_.....Then the traveler in the dark,_

_Thanks you for your little spark,_

_He could not see which way to go,_

_If you did not twinkle so._

_When the blazing sun is gone,_

_When the nothing shines upon,_

_Though I know not what you are,_

_Twinkle, twinkle, little star....._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If someone who has played this game comes here, hello there! This fic has moments and things from the game, but because this is just a fic, it won't have things exactly like the game. So, if you wonder something silly or strange things like "Heey, that thing wasn't in the game, that wasn't in the real USG Ishimura!" don't worry, it must be something my mind has invented. There will be a lot of things that doesn't go right with the real game, so don't try to read this like it's trying to tell everything exactly like the game.
> 
> My english skills aren't so good, so my friend (who is a lot better than me when it comes to english) promised to read every chapter before I publish it! If you still find some mistakes and typos, please tell me and I'll correct mistakes! ^_^
> 
> You can find me on tumblr btw:  
> http://suspiciouslandlady.tumblr.com/
> 
> and credits to my lovely friend who helps me with my english problems, here's her tumblr too!  
> http://repesso.tumblr.com/
> 
> See you soon! *smooches* ^////^ ~ ♥


	2. Welcome to the USG Ishimura

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Hello Ishimura, can you read me? This is USG Kellion. We heard your distress call and we're here to help you. I repeat, we're here to help you so can we get permission to land?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again sweethearts! ^_^  
> I was too excited that I couldn't wait, so here's the very first real chapter!  
> I'm sorry about the short chapters. I'm still getting used to this so I'm not able to write long chapters yet. But I'll try my best and I hope I will progress. 
> 
> It's very hard to describe some things. I hope it's ok to you if I link some pics when it comes to something I can't really explain ^_^" I'm trying my best though.  
> So, my first link will show you what kind of uniforms and helmets Jean and others wear. If you've seen pics about Dead Space game, you might know, but if you haven't it's ok. Here's a pic:
> 
> http://it.cosplayhouse.com/images/D/Dead-Space-Isaac-Clark-Cosplay-Costume-Version-01-2.jpg

"I did some research on USG Ishimura. Did you know that this is supposed to be its last mission? It's already over 60 years old!" Connie whooped with a little grin on his face. "Oh really? That explains why it suddenly sent distress signals. Maybe it's way too old for any use anymore", Sasha answered, sitting next to Connie.

"Oh shut up you two. Nothing beats the good old Ishimura. Even if it was on its last mission, I bet they'd still use it. Maybe not for big missions anymore, but little ones aren't too hard for it." Reiner had always thought that Ishimura was the best ship man has ever created. Well it was true, Ishimura still beat the newest ships, but you couldn't keep upgrading it forever.

"Guys, I think you should keep your voices down. We're still searching Ishimura's location", dark brown haired man said and sat down. Eren kept watching the trio, until all of them had calmed down. "Aww man, I'm just excited to get there. I've always dreamed about visiting Ishimura and now my dream is coming true", Connie sighed and took a glance of the two-tone haired man, who was sitting further from them.

"He's been upset the whole journey and he keeps repeating those video messages. I wonder what happened there. The latest one told some scary shit like big number of corpses." Connie knew how much Jean missed Marco. Everyone knew it.

Marco's last message made everyone worry about the upcoming mission. Was there some kind of virus that made people crazy? Or why were people there out of their minds? Poor Marco, poor Bertholdt. What horrible things they must have seen there.

No one dared to say anything to Jean. And even if you tried to, he wouldn't listen to you. He was so focused on the video messages he hadn't received until now. Marco definitely had sent a nice number of them.

Jean repeated some of Marco's video messages over and over again. He stared the hologram screen that was showing him the familiar freckled face. When Marco smiled, Jean felt how he had tiny smile on his face too. But when there were the reminders of the dead people, smile disappeared from Jean's face immediately.

The little shuttle, USG Kellion, was on it's way to Ishimura. They had received Ishimura's distress signal and delivered it to the main station. With their permission, the little ship had left the Earth and was moving fast towards Ishimura. Sometimes Kellion had hard time to find the signal, but somehow they managed to find it after a long search.

At first they weren't sure where the signals came, but then they realized that Ishimura must be close, because they kept getting Marco's old video messages. It was a bit strange that the messages hadn't found their way to the Earth. But then again, Ishimura was really far.

Kellion was moving fast. They thought that it really had to be very serious situation. If Marco said something like that, then things really were wrong. Dead bodies weren't a good sign either. Everyone was worried about their friends and lovers.

"Hey. How are you feeling?" Eren asked and moved to sit next to Jean. The hologram screen disappeared and Jean finally lifted his eyes to Eren. Their glances met each other. Usually Eren and Jean had stupid arguments about every single thing, but now Jean was more worried about Marco. He didn't have the energy to fight with Eren.

"I bet I look like shit, so maybe you can deduce", Jean finally answered. His answer made Eren frown. "I know you're missing him, but you don't have to act like that. We all miss our friends. Don't be an martyr", Eren sighed and Jean just answered with his typical snort.

The awkward silence had fallen. Eren decided that it was just better to leave Jean alone. If he wanted to be grumpy and feel like shit, then fine. It wasn't his problem anyway. "Anyone wanna play with cards or something?" Connie asked, trying to make atmosphere more comfortable. Sadly no one was in the mood to play or have fun. "Oh fine, let's all be grumpy farts then."

Levi, who was trying to sort out which way was the shortest way to Ishimura, was relieved when the others stayed quiet. Their chats were getting too loud, but finally everyone was sitting quietly. Levi enjoyed the holy moment. He was already very grateful that Eren and Jean, those two annoying brats, weren't fighting again.

"Are we there yet?" Sasha finally asked but everyone shook their heads. "Not yet. But I still hope we don't have to wear these stupid helmets, they're too hot and uncomfortable", Eren nagged. He didn't really like the helmets they had to wear. Well, he bet no one else liked them either, but if you worked in space you had to wear a helmet, obviously. They were lucky that the suits at least weren't so uncomfortable or too tight.

They stayed in silence until they noticed that Kellion was slowing. They must be close to Ishimura. Sasha hopped up and stared outside the windows. "I can see it!" she screamed with her happy voice. Sasha and Connie were excited about their first visit to USG Ishimura.

Reiner and Eren had been there couple of times and Jean wasn't very interested about the big ships. They were so creepy. Especially USG Ishimura. He had heard some creepy stories about Ishimura's laboratories. There was really some crazy shit going on, but no one told the truth. Before Marco had left on this mission, he had promised to tell Jean everything about Ishimura and its strange things.

Oh well, dead bodies and people who were out of their minds was more than enough. What the fuck was really happening there?

"It's huuuge!!" Connie whooped and took good looks at the colossal space ship. "Why doesn't it have any lights on?" Reiner wondered. True, they had long distance between the Kellion and Ishimura, but they were still able to see that Ishimura didn't have any lights on.

"This is USG Kellion, calling to Ishimura. Can we get permission to land?" Levi sent message to Ishimura. They waited, but they didn't get any answers. "Ishimura, we're asking permission to land. Can you read me? " Another message sent to the colossal ship. Still no answer. "For fuck's sake, why the hell they aren't answering?" short man was getting annoyed.

Eren decided to send next message, Levi was clearly frustrated and it was better that someone else took the microphone away from him. "Hello Ishimura, can you read me? This is USG Kellion. We heard your distress call and we're here to help you. I repeat, we're here to help you so can we get permission to land?" Everyone waited, but still there was only silence.

Jean stood up and walked close to others. It was very weird that Ishimura wasn't sending any messages back. "What if they can't get the signal?" Eren asked and tried to figure out other reasons why Ishimura's board did not give any answers.

They tried a couple of times and then gave up. No answer from Ishimura. Levi was seriously getting displeased because of this situation. Maybe he was a bit worried about Ishimura's status too, but he was showing it by getting annoyed.

It felt like a miracle happened when Kellion got signal from Ishimura. "Finally they decided to answer", Levi muttered and picked up Ishimura's message. He played the voice message but they didn't expect it to be like this.

"What. The. Fuck", Jean finally opened his mouth. The message didn't have any speaking, only strange voices. Like wild animals growling and roaring. "What was that? Like seriously, what the hell? It sounded more like animals", Connie couldn't believe what he had just heard. No one could believe it.

"Ishimura, stop messing with us and just give us the permission to land", Levi sent answer to them. No answers anymore. Ishimura stayed silent, again.

"Who the fuck cares about the fucking permission anymore! You heard that as well, there's something really wrong and we have to get there, NOW", Jean almost shouted.

"We can't land there without permission. The gates might be closed."

"Fuck you Jaeger. Look, the gates are open so let's go without permission."

Jean was really getting frustrated. Whatever those voices on the message were, it made him just want to go there and get Marco out of the ship. Stupid Ishimura, stupid permission.

"Jean calm down", Reiner said and patted his friend's shoulder. "How can you be so calm after hearing those noises? Can you even imagine what the situation might be there? How about Bertholdt, what if he is in danger? Do you really fucking care more about some stupid permission than your boyfriend?" Jean was going too far. He knew it, but no one could stop him now.

"Shut up Jean", Reiner hissed. Yes, he was worried about Bertholdt, as much as Jean was worried about Marco, but right now they had more important things to do than just quarrel with each other.

Everyone started to argue with each other. Connie and Sasha tried to calm Eren, who had got angry of Jean's attitude, Reiner who was very pissed off about Jean's words and Jean who was still arguing over the permission.

"Can you all just shut up? Shut up!" Levi finally shouted. Everyone went silent and watched him. Levi was always scary, but when he started to shout or got really angry, it was better to shut up before everything got worse.

Levi sighed and took back microphone. "This is Levi Ackerman from the USG Kellion. We're asking permission to land. If you don't reply to us, we're still going to land to USG Ishimura with distress signal as our excuse. Over." The final message was sent to Ishimura.

They waited and waited, but when no answer came, it didn't stop Kellion. "We're heading to the Flight Deck. Sit down and put the helmets on", Levi ordered. Everyone obeyed and put their uncomfortable helmets on and then sat down.

The USG Kellion headed straight to the Flight Deck. Everything went smoothly until Kellion started to have problems. There was so much junk flying around the entrance. They almost managed to get to the deck without any bigger problems, but then they felt how Kellion bumped into something.

There was too much space debris. And something had smashed into Kellion. It was hard to control the little shuttle, but still somehow Levi managed to get them inside the Ishimura. There was long platforms. But it was all silent. No one was around there. No one waited them.

The only thing what awaited them there was a lot of bags and suitcases. Like people had tried to get ready to exit the ship, but then they had just disappeared into the thin air. It was morbid and strange.

"Where is everybody?" Sasha asked. Levi shut off the Kellion and stood up. He took his own helmet and put it on. The door on the left side of the shuttle opened and Eren was the first one to hop onto the platform.

When everyone got out of the shuttle, they headed straight to the flight lounge. Lights were off, it was just darkness everywhere. And a lot of bags again. "It's like everyone just disappeared and abandoned their bags", Connie commented and viewed the area.

Levi took his gun from its belt case. He turned little lamp that was attached to the gun on and took a good look around the area with it. Reiner and Eren did the same and now the flight lounge had a little bit of light.

Connie and Sasha weren't sure, what to think about this place. They didn't have guns either, because they weren't mean to be guards like Levi, Eren and Reiner were.

They were engineers like Jean. Connie was good at repairing broken things, Sasha too. Hard to believe because they were so good at destroying things. But when they really focused, they did good job.

Jean was more better with computers, but he was able to repair broken things too.

"So, what do you think? I don't think it's clever idea to separate. This isn't what we had expected", Eren said and looked Levi. Levi was in charge of the USG Kellion. He was also older than others and had more experience. So he was naturally their boss.

"You said it. No one splits up from the group. If you get lost, you must immediately contact others", Levi answered and watched everyone behind his helmet. "But first, let's turn the lights on. It's way too dark here", he continued and glanced at Jean.

Jean looked around. There were two doors and both of them had text "Control room" above them. The one just had text "Control room A" and the other had "Control room B". Maybe they had to split up after all.

"Fucking great. Okay, this is what we do. Me, Sasha and Eren go to the Control room A. Jean, Reiner and Connie go to the Control room B. If you get there first, turn the lights on. If something comes up, report it immediately, you understand? Good, let's go then", Levi commanded and headed straight to the bigger doors. Eren and Sasha followed him.

Jean, Reiner and Connie went to the other door. It was smaller than other door, but who cares about that.

"Sasha must feel pretty safe because she's with Levi and Eren and both of them has guns", Connie muttered and took a couple of looks to behind. "Well at least someone is", Jean murmured, mostly just to himself.

They were walking on echoing corridor. Only their footsteps made sounds, nothing else. Suddenly there was little splash under Jean's other leg. He looked down and Reiner turned his gun's light to the floor.

Jean felt how his face turned pale. It was good that he was wearing his helmet, no one else could see his face. There was a little pool of blood and Jean just had stepped thereto.

Reiner decided to show some more light to the floor. There was more blood. And it looked like something had dragged the one what must have been the source of all this blood.

It was a surprise that Connie didn't say anything. Maybe he was in shock. Others couldn't see his face, so it was hard to tell what he might be thinking.

Reiner decided to send report to Levi. This was definitely something they had to tell to others. "This is Reiner Braun. We have found blood and traces that looks like someone has been dragged around here. We haven't found anyone yet, but it seems that there will be more blood straight ahead."

"I wonder what happened here", Connie finally said. Jean didn't even want to think about it. He wanted to find Marco, that's all he wanted. Marco alive. "Let's go", Jean said and continued walking. Reiner and Connie looked at each other and then started to walk.

They managed to find the Control room. It was dark. Corridors had been empty, but there was blood everywhere. It wasn't good sign.

Jean headed to the main computer. The hologram screen looked unbroken, so there might be no damage to the computer system. Jean was fast when he was tapping the hologram screen, writing something and trying to search the main reason why lights were turned off.

Well, the computer didn't gave any good reasons, but it was still in the mood to obey. Soon the lights turned on. The Control room had big windows, but they were covered with metallic curtain. When the lights turned on, the metallic curtain rose up and they were able to see the tram station.

Levi and others were standing on the train station. When the windows' covers weren't blocking the view, Sasha waved to others and smiled. She had took off her helmet. It seemed that they hadn't seen any blood or anything. Or Sasha was just too happy to see others.

"Where's the tram?" Reiner asked and tried to search it with his glance. "I'll try to find it through computer", Jean answered and started to tap the hologram screen. Connie walked next to him and stared the screen.

It took Jean minutes before he finally found the tram. "Found it", he said and decided to call the tram to the station.

"Let's go. They're waiting us", Reiner said and left the Control room. Connie and Jean followed him. It was easier to navigate when the lights were on. But they also got bigger view about everything around them.

There was blood, a lot of blood. More than they had expected after they had found the little blood puddles. Whatever had happened here was really brutal. It wouldn't surprise if they find dead bodies somewhere. They already knew that Ishimura had a lot of dead members from the mining planet.

They had good timing, because when the trio finally arrived to the tram station, the tram came at the same time.

When tram's door opened, they didn't expected the sight that awaited them there.

Levi was the first one to point his gun to the character at the door. Reiner and Eren soon pointed their guns too to the same direction.

There was a woman standing in front of them. Her back was on their direction. She was just looking the tram's big hologram screen. Her white clothes were covered with blood. She might be a doctor or a nurse, they weren't sure because they only saw her back.

"Hey, lady! Are you alright? We're here to help you! We're from the USG Kellion", Connie decided to speak. Blonde woman tilted her head. Little droplets of blood dropped to the tram's floor.

A weak voice started to mumble something. Woman was saying something but she was too quiet, no one understood what she mumbled. "What? Can you speak louder?" Eren asked and lowered his gun.

" _.... Ashes.... Ashes... We all... fall down...._ " little weak voice from her sang. And just when she finished the phrase, she fell on her back. The woman was dead as a doornail.

They finally saw her face. But it was something they actually didn't want to see. Her other cheek missed the skin and muscles, like it was bitten off. She was missing her eye too.

Her chest was sliced open. If you took very good look, you were able to see top of her sternum.

Levi lowered his gun and sighed. "So the things are pretty bad here. Like I expected after the voice message. Prepare yourselves, we will see more of this shit. I can feel it", he said. He hopped on the tram and made sure that there wasn't anyone else.

Reiner moved the dead body to one of the chairs on the station. Connie was shaking and Sasha didn't say anything. Everyone seemed to be in shock, but Levi was the only one who didn't show it. Even though he didn't show any signs of it, they still were sure that Levi felt something about it.

"Let's move on", he commanded and everyone moved onto the tram.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't decided yet will this story only follow Jean and his desire to find Marco or should I add other perspectives as well. I'm interested about tell other perspectives as well as some flashbacks. But I'm doubting because I don't want to make it too complicated to read.
> 
> My other friend read prologue and complained about how I was repeating words and sentences. I'm trying to get rid of that habit and I'll also work with getting richer text. 
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed. I'm working on chapter 2 already, but my final exams are coming and I really have to focus on them too. But don't worry, I'll work hard with the next chapter! Next time we will face something very horrible and disgusting......  
> See you soon! *smooches* ^-^ ~ ♥
> 
> And again, there might be mistakes. Feel free to tell me about them and I'll correct it.  
> 


	3. Severed limbs and dead bodies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "If that's the reason why they sent distress signals, I understand them very well"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Helloo! Oh it's only been a week since the last chapter. Maybe I'm still too excited.  
> My final exams are over and I have more freetime now. Good time to write and just relax.  
> My friend was mean and gave me another nice AU idea but I saw fanart of it on tumblr already, so I hesitate to actually try on write something about it too. Maybe I should just stay on this. Don't know does people even enjoy this but I enjoy writing and that's why I keep on working with this.
> 
> Okay let's not get angsty ^_^

The tram was moving. Even though there were 5 passengers, all of them were silent. They were thinking about the dead woman.

Levi was looking at the hologram screen. It showed where they were going. They were heading towards the Bridge. There they'd start to search reasons for the distress call.

Did they really need reasons anymore? There was already information about dead bodies and people who behaved violently. And now they'd also found brutally treated woman. That woman was dead now.

Jean took his helmet off. Well, he didn't really do anything to it, because there was a button on his suit. And that button made sure that if you had helmet on your head, it broke the helmet into tiny pieces and collected them inside the suit. When you needed the helmet back on your head, you just had to click other button. It repaired the helmet and placed it on again.

Advanced technology was such a great thing. Soon others got tired of their helmets too and after that no one had their helmets on.

"So, we're heading to the Bridge. Do you think the computers still works?" Eren asked and looked Jean. "If they aren't in tiny pieces and they have power, then there might be a chance. I can't say it for sure. I need to see them", Jean answered.

He hoped that the computers were as good as the earlier computer in Control room. It would be easier to see Ishimura's damages, but the computer had also program that showed the statuses of workers.

"Do you think anyone is alive?" Sasha asked. She was usually the one who made everyone feel even a little bit comfortable. But now she dropped the bomb. Everyone looked at her. She was shivering.

"Of course! I hope so...." Connie answered quickly. But you were able to hear dubiety in his voice. He wasn't sure what he should believe. No one was.

"We need to focus", Levi cut the conversation before it started.

Jean bit his lower lip. He didn't want to think that Marco was dead. No, it's not possible. Marco wasn't like that. He wouldn't die so easily. Right?

Soon he noticed that he was shivering. Not because he was cold, but for the idea of Marco being dead and alone somewhere. No. Marco was alive, he must be.

Reiner noticed Jean's growing anxiety. He placed his hand on the blonde's shoulder and smiled. "We can check their statuses on the Bridge. He is alive, he wouldn't give up. Bertl is here with him. He knows what to do", Reiner tried to comfort him. He couldn't promise that Marco is alive, but if he's with Bertholdt, there was a bigger chance.

Reiner had told Bertholdt things about how he should act when he was in dangerous situations. Bertholdt was always interested to learn more about them. Reiner had told everything he knew. Now he hoped that his knowledge had helped Bertholdt here when whatever happened.

The rest of the time they were quiet. When the tram stopped at the Bridge's tram station, they had finally chance to move.

The tram station was like the earlier station. It was empty, no sign of anyone. There was a couple of posters on the wall, both of them just welcoming everyone to the Bridge.

"Hey, what's that?" Connie noticed something and moved closer. Something was lying on the ground. Some kind of object. They took a couple of steps closer to it, until they managed to identify it.

"What is Plasma Cutter doing here?" Eren wondered. The object was familiar gun. It was identical with Eren's gun. "I don't know but we better take it with us", Levi answered and picked the gun. He examined it and then gave it to Jean. "Just in case, you might need this as well. We all might need guns", he said when Jean gave him questioning gaze.

They started to walk corridors. Corridors were really messed. There were strange looking symbols on the walls as well as blood and odd writings. Jean decided to read couple of them. "Cut off their limbs!" "We need some help!" "Is it safe yet?" "This is the real hell."

When they got closer to the Main Atrium, they found two dead bodies on the corridor. Two men and both of them were missing limbs. The other missed half of his face as well.

"That is so gross", Connie whined and turned his look away. "They look like some kind of animal attacked them. That doesn't look like work of human", Sasha said and studied the bodies. It was true, they didn't look like someone killed them. They looked like _something_ killed them.

Finally they made it to the Main Atrium. It was the primary area of the Bridge. It was a wide open area with terminals all along the room's perimeter. At the front was an access to the Captain's Nest. Captain's Nest was the place what could be described as captain's personal office and observatory.

"Okay. Jean, take a good look at the computers. Sasha and Connie, do some researches and report if something is broken. I will go to take a look at Captain's Nest. Eren and Reiner, you two stay close to the engineers", Levi gave commands and then went to the Captain's Nest.

Connie and Sasha were searching for broken parts or something else what might be broken. Eren joined to their group and followed them. Jean headed right into the main computer with Reiner.

Most of the computers were on, but some of them seemed like they were shut off. Or maybe they were just broken. Who knows. Most of the hologram screens looked unharmed.

Jean started to check through the main computer which computers were broken. He hoped that the computer could also tell what kind of problems the whole ship had.

"Wow, there's so much damage. Like every section has some kind of damage, but it seems that we can still fix most parts", Jean said after the hologram screen showed map of the whole ship and also the damaged areas.

"Can you look at the statuses of the members? It should show them too", Reiner asked and Jean nodded. He started to search information about the crew.

He felt how his heart missed a couple of beats when the computer was looking for the statuses. Finally the screen started to fill up with little pictures of people who worked in Ishimura.

Both men were shocked when the screen started to paint most of the pictures in red color. Red color meant that the person was no longer alive. Ishimura had 1,322 members plus people who worked on the mining planets. But now the screen was almost red. There were little white dots here and there though.

"Holy shit", Jean managed to say. He could feel his stomach twisting. He wrote more information and then computer took another search, pictures disappearing on the screen. Soon it was showing pictures again, but now it showed only people who worked in the medical section.

Jean bit his lip again while he was searching the familiar face among the other faces. There was so much red. He was afraid. What if Marco's picture was red too? And if it was, were there still any chances that he might still be alive?

"What did I tell you?" Reiner said with relieved voice. Jean stared the screen until he found Marco's picture. He was relieved when he saw that his lover's picture wasn't red. "Bertholdt must have taken care of him and helped", Reiner continued. Soon Jean found Bertholdt's picture. It wasn't red either. So both of them were still alive. But the next question, where were they? The computer didn't show anything else but the fact that they're alive. Yes, they were still alive, but it doesn't mean that they aren't injured.

Suddenly the screen went black. "What the fuck?" Jean cursed and tried to fix the problem. The screen was off for a couple of minutes, until it turned on and showed pictures of the crew again. Every picture were red now. Jean felt how he his face was pale again. Pictures changed their colors almost every ten second. Some of the pics were red and some of them white, then suddenly red pics turned into white or the other way. "This computer is messing with us", Reiner sighed.

"I still believe that he is alive. And if this computer gave some false information, I will rip it into the tiny pieces with my bare hands!" Jean hissed. He didn't find Marco's picture when the screen showed the whole crew. There was too much tiny pics.

Both of them winced when they heard scream. "That was definitely Sasha", Reiner said and tried to figure out where it came from. Soon Sasha and Connie ran to the area. Both of them had pure fear on their faces.

"What happened? Where's Eren?" Reiner looked around but didn't saw the brown haired man. When he heard gunshots, he figured that Eren wasn't too far. Muscular man ran in the direction where Sasha and Connie came.

"Eren!" Reiner shouted when he saw the other man. Eren was shooting at the creature what was coming toward. The creature looked like human, but when it came closer, it was easier to see that it wasn't normal human.

It had long hands. There was sharp blade-like protrusions coming out of them. They didn't look like real blades, so they must be bones. Its skin was bloody and mushy. Spine was visible. That thing looked like it was human and monster hybrid. It was absolutely gross. The most sick part of it was its abdomen. It was sliced open and there was another pair of hands coming out.

Eren shot it, but the gun didn't have good effect. The monster was getting angrier. It roared and started to run. "Why doesn't it die?!" Eren screamed and shot more bullets. Reiner started to shoot it too. Finally when its hands were cut off, the creature fell down and didn't move at all.

They just stood there and kept watching the creature. When they finally were sure that it really was dead, they lowered their guns. Eren almost fell down. He was panting a lot. Reiner decided to get closer to the monster. "If that's the reason why they sent distress signals, I understand them very well", Eren said and closed his eyes.

Levi appeared soon. First he made sure that no one was injured and then he examined the strange creature. "It looks like some kind of sick alien or something", Reiner commented. "I bet there is more of those things", Eren said. He took little view of the monster, but then he turned his head away.

Jean stood a bit further of them with Sasha and Connie. Sasha looked like she was ready to cry. She was absolutely horrified by the monster's appearance.

"So how bad is the damage of this ship?" Levi asked. Jean quailed when he realized that the other man was next to him. "It is pretty bad indeed. Almost every section suffers from some kind of damage. But it can be fixed, most of them can be fixed. I'm not sure how, I bet we must see the damage before we can plan any preparing", Jean answered and stared Levi's eyes.

"How about survivors? Is there anyone alive?"

After hearing Levi's question Jean bit his lower lip again. "Not sure. At first computer showed that most of the crew is dead, but there were also alive statuses as well. But soon it started to mess up and I'm not sure anymore what is the real amount of survivors."

Levi studied Jean's face a couple of minutes until he nodded as an answer. "Okay. We should start with the Engineering Deck", Levi mumbled and thought about it. "Well, the Crew Deck is below us and there might be survivors. It would be better to head there at first", Jean mentioned.

"Jean, the Engineering Deck is more important. The Medical Deck is another what might be more better choice to head than the Crew Deck. We can check it later."

"Shut up Jaeger, the survivors are important too. Imagine the terror they must be feeling. We can help them, but if we ignore them now, they might be dead when we finally go there."

"Shut up both of you, we don't want to listen your stupid quarrels, because now it's not the right time for that."

Jean and Eren went silent and stared at Levi. "I'll go to the Crew Deck. I don't care what you guys do, but if we have to split up, I'll do it. I will repair this stupid ship and save the people who need help. I don't fucking care what you guys think", Jean argued. He wasn't really the one to be a hero, but when there was a chance that Marco was alive and needed help, he was ready to play the hero's role.

"If you want to split up so badly, then be my guest! Do whatever you want, I don't care if you kill yourself. I've had enough of your attitude. Did you at least activate another tram? I'm not going to walk, the Engineering Deck is on the other side of the ship", Levi said and stared right into Jean's eyes. It was a little creepy, but Jean just stared back.

"I'll go with Jean. We can split up. You guys can go take care of the other side of the ship and we will take care of this side. We can contact each other, right? And if something comes up, I'll be ready to sent reports to you." Reiner looked at Levi. He wasn't going to abandon Jean and it might be better if he went with him. They both were looking for their lovers anyway.

"Are you sure? Are you guys out of your minds? You just saw that monster and still you're ready to be just the two of you!" Sasha asked and couldn't believe what she had just heard. "Yeah, if there's more of those creatures, you're easy target for them", Connie mentioned. He was looking them with questioning gaze.

"You wanna join us?" Jean asked. Connie shook his head. "Hell no! I'll be with Levi and others. I'm not that crazy!"

Eren was silent. He tried to deal with everything inside his head. This was too absurd. When he finally heard his name, he lifted his gaze and looked Jean and Reiner. "You wanna join us?" they asked. Eren shook his head. "I'll be with them. Take care of yourselves and contact us if something happens, okay?" he asked. Reiner nodded.

"Well, I hope that we see each other again soon. Don't you dare to die." Eren took last glance of his two comrades and then walked away with others.

It was now only Jean and Reiner. "I need to check two more things from the computer and call another tram." Jean walked back to the atrium and started to fight with the main computer. Computer wasn't in the mood to obey, it messed a lot with the blonde man. It made Jean curse and frustrated.

He saw on the computer how the tram was heading toward the Engineering Deck. "So now it's just both of us. Keep your eye on the ball. I don't want to get surprised by another creepy monster." Jean didn't took his eyes off from the screen but he knew that Reiner was already watching over his back. You can't be too careful when there was a chance of meeting monsters, right?

Both of them were pretty curious about the Captain's Nest. "Should we take a look?" Reiner asked. Jean nodded and moved to the front. There was tiny spiral staircases leading down. They followed the stairs and found themselves in front of the big door.

Jean opened it. He and Reiner entered to the comfortable looking room. It had three huge screens and other interesting looking stuff. Jean noticed that the captain's computer wasn't working. " **SYSTEM ERROR** " big text shone on every screen. "I think Levi wanted to sort out this place. There must be top secret information", Reiner wondered and looked around.

"Maybe if we come back here later, I can try to fix the computers", Jean said and left the room. Reiner followed him and closed the door. They both moved fast back to the atrium.

"I didn't get any damage information from Sasha and Connie", Jean realized soon. Damn, he might have found useful that information. Both of them were so scared of the monster that they had forgot to inform him. He couldn't help but get little pissed off. How was he able to repair anything here if he didn't get information about the damage?

"You can get it later. Shall we go to the Crew Deck? The tram might be waiting us", Reiner said and started to head to the corridor. Jean sighed and glanced around. He heard some uncomfortable voices and that made him run after his guard. Shit, this place really is one big mess. With or without the strange creatures.

Right when they were going to the tram station, another monster appeared. It looked like the earlier monster. Reiner shot it five times. Monster was pretty close when Jean took the gun they had found and helped Reiner. He missed two times, until he got used to the gun and then shot again.

They continued their way after the alien was dead. Other tram took its time and when it came to the station, both men hopped in.

The tram headed to the lower floor where the Crew Deck was. It was silent and dark when tram's doors opened. Huge amount of bodies was laying around the station. "This is getting dark. I wonder how many monsters we will encounter", Reiner murmured mostly to himself. Jean walked around the station and investigate every single body. No sign of Marco.

Jean was going to shout, but Reiner quickly stopped him. "Shhh, don't make any loud sounds. You saw what kind of monsters here is. If you shout, you will reveal us." Reiner was looking around and started to head to the bloody corridor.

Corridor was like others. Silent, empty and looked like there's been one hell of massacre. Both of them were able to imagine what might have happened. If those... things? Monsters? Did this all, then there's no wonder why the blood had splattered everywhere. There was even some of it on the corridor's ceiling.

Reiner stopped suddenly and watched around. Jean took few steps toward until he noticed that the other man had stopped. "What? C'mon, we don't have time to daydream", Jean whined.

"No wait. I think I heard something", Reiner answered and tried to figure out something. Jean tilted his head and then he tried to focus and heard anything what the other blonde had heard.

Jean was able to hear tiny sobbings somewhere near. He closed his eyes and focused. " _Jeaaan..... Jeaan..._ " he heard weak whispers. "That's Marco!" Jean shouted and lost control from himself. He left Reiner to stand alone to the corridor and ran to the direction where sobbings and whispers came.

"No Jean! Wait!"

But Jean didn't wait. He didn't even hear Reiner who shouted after him. Who tried to follow him.

Jean found himself in one of the huge public shower room. "Marco? Where are you?" Jean whispered and started to search Marco. He took a look at the closest shower stalls. Nope, no sign of anyone. He continued searching.

When he got to the last shower stalls, he was disappointed. There was no one. He felt like he was a huge idiot. What did he expect? Who the hell even would hide in public shower room anyway? No one! "I'm such a fucking idiot." Jean sighed and turned around. He felt how something wrapped around him.

Jean screamed when he realized that another monster was there. It had wrapped its long hands around him. The monster roared. It was smelling like rotten corpse. And now when Jean was so close to its face, he had chance to see its disgusting mouth. The fucking creature was trying to bite him, trying to get good taste of his neck.

Where the hell was Reiner? Had he lost Jean when he ran off like a fool, following the whispers and sobs. Jean was too careless, he knew it. Now he had to pay the price of his stupid actions. Why did he even try to play the hero's part? He was just selfish. He didn't really care about other survivors. He only want to find Marco. That was all he really wanted.

Jean tried to push the monster away, but it had tight grip. He tried to dodge every time the thing was getting close to his neck and was about to bite it. He dodged it, but he knew he couldn't hold much longer. He was really going to die.

No, he couldn't give up. Not yet. He shot couple of times the monster, targeting its stomach. It didn't really have any effect to it. The monster was just trying more harder to get piece of his neck. He shot again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure about this chapter, the end of it was really the problem for me. I wasn't sure should I cut it or end this chapter differently, but I decided to keep it like this.  
> I'm very sorry if I make these awesome characters OOC. I'll work on that issue. Don't want to ruin them.
> 
> And again, I'm pleased if you guys are pleased too. If you find mistakes or something else, inform me about it and I'll fix it!  
> Comments are always very welcomed ^_^  
> See you soon! I'll start work with the next chapter after little break.  
> *smooches* I love you all （っ＾▿＾） ~ ♥
> 
> oh and if we're lucky, we might get new company on the next chapter. I wonder who we will meet?


	4. Get it off me! Get it off!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Do you really think there's anyone alive? This place is living hell. All of my co-workers are dead. I saw how most of them died. Almost the whole security was whipped off and it didn't take more than what, ten minutes? Oh yeah. The captain was an ass, he only cared about that stupid Marker. What even is that thing? I'll tell you, it's evil. It's the whole reason why this all is happening. It's bad omen."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are again, helloo everyone ~  
> Yeah I've had so much inspiration right now that I couldn't stop writing. I've wrote and wrote and I think the reason why I saw an nightmare one night was because of this story :DDD But it doesn't make any sense because the nightmare didn't have this kind of theme. Oh well dreams are just dreams....  
> I hope you enjoy! (─‿‿─)
> 
> There might be some disgusting things so I'm giving you little warning here! ^^"

Jean was sure he saw his whole life running fast in front of his eyes while he tried to kill the monster that was holding him and trying to bite his neck off. He was also very sure that the voices around them were muted. He heard only how his heart beat fast against his chest. He was really going to die and his whole body was aware of it. It knew it.

He felt weak. He tried so hard, but he wasn't going to make it. The creature had more power than his weak body had. He knew no matter what he did, he was already a lost cause. And he was going to die alone. He wouldn't be able to see those lovely brown eyes he loved too much again. Face that was covered with freckles and had always that warm smile what made Jean happy. Smile that had power to make Jean smile too, even when he felt like shit. He wouldn't feel arms wrapping around him and pulling him into a warm hug. He wouldn't be able to touch the person he loved the most in the whole world.

"Marco...." he said quietly. Jean felt how his eyes were closing. He was lost case. It was his destiny to die like this. It was the price he paid for not being aware enough. He waited the pain what would come when the monster would finally bite piece out from his neck.

Suddenly he heard gunshot and felt how something wet splashed on his face. Jean opened immediately his eyes. The monster didn't have head anymore, it had exploded. The tight grip came more loose and then disappeared. It was dead. Jean had his eyes on it until he finally lifted his gaze.

He was sure that for a couple of minutes he saw an angel. Angel who had beautiful blond hair that was tied at the back. She was looking him, cold gaze in her blue eyes. She wore almost same kind of suit what Jean was wearing, but her suit was colored with blue and black. Also her suit looked more armored. Her arm had tag and the tag had text: ' **SECURITY** '

Jean wasn't sure was she even real or was he alive anymore. It was like he had got into a coma. But then he felt two arms on his shoulders and a familiar voice. "Jean! Jean, are you ok? Are you hurt? Can you hear me?" Reiner had worried look on his face while he tried to make contact with smaller man.

When Jean finally came back into reality, he let sad whimpers and looked into Reiner's eyes. "It's okay buddy, it's ok. Calm down, you're alive. You don't look like you're hurt, but your face is covered with slimy blood", the muscular man comforted and swept Jean's face with his glove.

It took minutes before Jean started to understood what had happened. Someone had shot the monster's head and saved him. And Reiner was here, his strong arms holding Jean's shivering body.

Reiner was like a big and muscular teddy bear. He was like big brother Jean never had. He hated to admit it that Reiner knew exactly how to calm him down and he was still glad it was just Reiner who was with him here. If it was Connie or Eren or someone else, they wouldn't know how to handle situations like this. Reiner looked tough outside, but inside he was actually pretty sweet and motherly. Hard to believe but that's who Reiner is.

"I'm alright", Jean said with a weak voice. He was okay. He was alive. He wasn't dead. Reiner nodded and let go. "Don't ever do that again. Seriously, I was sure you got rid of your life. Jean you're an idiot, did you know that? You made me worry", Reiner mocked him but then he smiled. "I'm still glad you're unhurt. Levi would beat me if I had to tell him that you died because I wasn't able to stop you."

Jean couldn't help but smile. "Yeah.... thanks Reiner. I'm sorry, I lost control", he said. It was his fault, he can't blame Reiner.

When he started to think about what happened, he remembered his guardian angel who apparently killed the monster. She was part of security staff. Her clothes revealed it. Jean looked around, but he didn't see anyone else. "What are you searching?" Reiner asked.

"Did you see anyone here? I was sure there was someone who blew up that thing's head. She was wearing security suit", Jean said and glanced Reiner. Other man's face was clearly surprised. "You saw someone? I haven't see anyone except you and that dead monster", Reiner answered and started to examine the room.

"I'm sure I saw someone....", Jean muttered and sighed. He was sure Reiner wouldn't believe him. "I know you think I'm still in shock but please, believe me. I saw her, I really saw someone. That someone saved my life, she killed the bastard."

"I believe you. I hope that we see her again. If she's from the security, she will be useful and she can help us. And you owe her, she saved your life", Reiner answered. Jean was pleased that his friend decided to believe him. Thank you Reiner.

"Let's continue. There's nothing here", Reiner said and left. Jean took last glances and then he ran after his guard. He really hope his savior was real. She must be real and alive, there's no way he would have just imagined her. Besides if she wasn't real, how the monster's head exploded then? Jean wasn't able to shoot it.

Their footsteps echoed on the empty walls of big corridor. There was blood, a lot more than what they had seen on the other corridors. Looked like someone had tried to paint the whole corridor red with all this blood.

When they finally came to the big lobby, they both got disgusted looks on their faces. The whole room was full of dead bodies. Not only bodies, but it looked like the floor was covered with intestines and other organs. Jean covered his mouth with his hand. He did feel nauseous. The sight was disgusting, brutal, horrible. Everything you would only see in your worst nightmares.

"I'm gonna throw up soon", Jean said and turned his head away from the sight. He could still smell the iron-rich blood that was flooding on the floor. He could also smell how the bodies had started to rot. And then he saw separated head that was just lying around the floor. That was the last thing. He felt how he started to cough and how he felt ache on his throat.

While Jean was throwing up his guts, Reiner made sure that the area wasn't dangerous. He didn't see any monster near. He tried to focus on hearing other sounds than Jean's coughing. He didn't hear anything either. He hoped that there weren't any monsters hiding behind the corner.

"You okay? Feeling better?" Reiner asked when he returned to Jean. Jean looked like he needed a rest. Seriously, his eyes were watering and his breathing was way too fast. He had to rest or they wouldn't be able to continue.

"Reiner I'm ok, really. Let's just continue", Jean said and took one step ahead, but then he felt how his body didn't want to obey him. He was falling down. Reiner was fast enough to wrap his other arm around Jean's body. "Yeah sure, you look awful. You need to rest, buddy", Reiner lectured. He started to speak about something, but everything went quiet around Jean. He didn't hear anything else than his beating heart and how his blood rushed through his veins. He felt like he was going to collapse any minute.

"Oi, Jean. You hear me? Shit, you're passing out." Jean heard Reiner's worried words and when he tried to say something, he couldn't say anything. His eyelids felt so heavy. He sighed and closed his eyes. Before he even noticed, he lost consciousness of the world around him. It was all dark.

* * *

 

_Something smelled very good. It was familiar scent. He knew it. What was it again? Oh. Now he definitely knew what he sniffed. It was the scent of fresh coffee. Coffee? Weird. Jean lifted his head from the pillow. He looked around._

_He was little confused when he found out he wasn't wearing the stupid engineering suit. He wasn't on the stupid USG Ishimura. The room where he was is way too familiar. He smiled. Was it all just a dream?_

_"Hey sleepyhead", voice came from the bedroom's door. Jean moved his head to the voice. The voice he loved too much. Marco was standing there, holding coffee cup and smiling. He still had his bed hair and that was one of the most cutest sights ever._

_"Oh Marco.... I had really bad dream. One of the worst fucking nightmares ever", Jean whined and sat up. Marco moved to the edge of the bed and sat next to him. He handed the coffee to Jean. "Poor thing. Don't worry, it was just a dream. Wanna talk about it? You don't really have to if you don't feel ready to talk about it though", he said and wrapped his arms around Jean. Jean sighed and took a swig of his coffee. Why he didn't remember it tasted this good._

_"It was just.... I don't know, brutal. Full of dead bodies and blood... And... And.... I don't really know. I was searching you. On that USG fucking Ishimura. I hate it already and now it's coming to my dreams too", Jean murmured. Marco listened silently and then smiled. He reached his hand and stroked Jean's cheek._

_"It's okay. It wasn't real. It was just a bad dream. You're here and I'm here", Marco said. His words made Jean relax and he even purred a little bit like a cat. "Aww look at you, so adorable", Marco chuckled and Jean smiled back to him. Jean moved the coffee cup from his hands to the night stand next to bed. He pressed himself against Marco and pulled him into soft and sweet kiss. It tasted like coffee, that's even better._

_Jean's hand started to wander around Marco's chest. It moved down to border of his shirt and then his hand started to wander around Marco's stomach. His skin was so smooth and soft. But suddenly Jean stopped when he felt something wet. There was also something warm but at the same time it felt slimy. Jean pulled his hand away under Marco's shirt and moved his glance to his hand. It was covered with blood._

_"Marco..." Jean whined and moved his gaze back to man next to him. Marco's eyes had lost life on them. He was pale and covered with blood. His shirt was ripped and he had nasty looking cut on his stomach. Jean felt sick when he saw tiny sight of intestine that was ready to come out from the cut._

_"They want my body", Marco said. His voice was weak and it was more like he was whispering. You could also hear that he was in pain. "They want it. It's so hard to fight against them. They want it so badly but I don't want to give it to them", he said. He started to cough and then he threw up blood to the bed._

_"Marco! I don't understand!" Jean shouted. He was ready to cry. He felt how tears were going to escape soon. Marco stared at him. His eyes were so dead and cold. They weren't the eyes he was used to see. "Jean I'm scared. I don't want to give my body to them. Everything hurts.... this is my body. My body..... My body...."_

_"Marco.... where are you?"_

* * *

 

Jean opened his eyes, but everything was blurry. He felt how a hand was covering his mouth and it made him feel pure fear. Where was he? He didn't know. What was happening? He didn't know that either. He couldn't say or shout anything, voice wasn't coming from his throat even when he tried his best.

When his eyes finally started to work and he started to see everything clearly, he realized that Reiner was covering his mouth and staring at him. "Please Jean, don't shout. We need to stay silent", he whispered and then took his hand away. Jean blinked his eyes and took a quick look around. He was in small room. There was two beds, so it must be sleeping block. "What is happening?" Jean whispered. His voice was still weak.

Reiner didn't answer. He focused on listening the sounds coming from the outside of the block. Jean's skin started to go goosebumps when he heard strange roars and other sounds. Oh god, there was monsters right behind the door. He wasn't even sure did the monsters knew their hiding place or were they just passing.

When he heard gunshots, he couldn't believe anything anymore. Was he still dreaming? No, this can't be dream. This was the shitty reality. But someone was fighting outside. Why? Who? Was it Eren or someone else from the USG Kellion's crew? "Reiner....." Jean whined, but other man just hushed him.

It felt like eternity until the gunshots stopped and there was no growling or other voices coming. It was silent. As silent as the space.

The door opened and it made Jean's heart jump into his throat. What now?! But then he realized that really familiar person was standing there and looking him and Reiner. "No way...." Jean whispered. It was all real. He didn't imagined anything. It was her.

"I couldn't believe I would see your face around here", she said. She was now looking Reiner. Jean had to think hard until he finally recognized her. He knew her! "Annie?!" Jean was confused. But when the person closed the door and came closer, he really recognized her. It was Annie. Annie Leonhart. Was she part of the security staff? Wow.

Reiner suddenly chuckled and it made both Jean and Annie look at him. Both of them stared with questioning gaze. What was so funny? "Oh don't mind me. I just get it now. She was the one who saved you" Reiner said. Annie stared at him until she sighed. "You haven't changed at all", she murmured.

Jean knew Reiner and Annie were good friends. He, she and Bertholdt were close friends. They had always been as long as Jean knew them. Even though he didn't know her well, he was still somehow pleased that she was here. Annie was always the creepy girl but she was strong and honest.

"Drink", Annie said and gave little water bottle to Jean. He didn't try to protest. He said silent thank you and drank. Annie sat down to the chair and looked him. "You should try to rest. You're still pale", she mentioned and Reiner agreed. Of course he would, he was always taking care of others. Jean closed the bottle and then pressed his head onto pillow.

The pillow had familiar scent and it made Jean open his eyes wide. This scent, he knew it. He took a couple of sniffs. That scent... no way.

He heard how Reiner laughed and felt how embarrassed he was. "You know, we're at the Bertholdt and Marco's sleeping block. That's Marco's bed, at least I assume it is", Reiner said and smiled. "How?" Jean asked. He couldn't believe it. Reiner must be fooling with him. How would he know?

"No don't give those kind of looks. I didn't know it but she knew", Reiner said after seeing Jean's unbelieving gaze. Jean moved his stare into Annie. She didn't have any kind of expression on her face. She was just... well, she just looked like she was thinking. Her facial expressions didn't changed even when she looked at Jean's eyes. "What? I've visited Bertholdt couple of times. That's why I know it", she said.

"Why did you had to bring me here?" Jean asked. He wasn't mad, in fact, he felt some kind of relief. He was on Marco's sleeping block, right on his bed. He was able to smell Marco's scent and it made him relaxed.

"Why not? You were the idiot who ran off like a fool, shouting your boyfriend's name and then you actually searched him in the public shower room. Really Jean, really? Oh and then you almost got yourself killed, congratulations about that. You're too reckless", Annie answered. Jean groaned and hide his face on the pillow. He loved it. The pillow was at the moment only thing that reminded him about Marco.

Reiner started to talk with Annie. Jean didn't know what they were talking about, he just closed his mind and hugged the pillow. Soon he sat up and took good glance around. The room was clean and very simple. At the same time it was pretty boring. It was lacking decoration or something what would make it feel like a comfortable place. How could anyone stay here? Oh, but most of the time Marco must have been on the Medical Deck. Jean wondered how hard Marco's work was. He assisted doctors and probably saw lots of crazy shit. Doesn't sound appealing.

Sometimes Jean even wondered was it worth it. Was is worth it to work here? He knew Ishimura paid very well and it was hard to get job here. But still it didn't sound the ideal place.

The room went silent. Reiner and Annie had stopped talking and everyone was just looking at the walls or ceiling. They didn't have anything to say.

Reiner decided to send report. They had found survivor at least and for their luck, the survivor was part of the security. Jean turned his eyes to Annie. He was curious.

"So... what happened here?" he asked. Annie lifted her look and stared Jean. Even when Annie's face didn't have any hints about what she might have been thinking, her eyes told more than words. She had seen hell. Real hell and her eyes told also that it was the most painful thing she had ever experienced. They were lacking zest for life. But at the same time it looked like her soul was fighting back and was furious to earn its prize. Earn life back.

Annie stared at Jean. She didn't say anything and it made room's atmosphere frightening and distressing. The subject was still hard to handle. Jean was regretting his question when Annie pressed her hands around her head. Her facial expression turned into pure fear and pain. Jean was afraid that she was going to cry. But she wasn't. She was horrified and fighting her inner demons but she wasn't crying.

Reiner moved closer and patted her shoulder. "I'm sorry. There's so much... shit going on my head..." she whispered. She looked like she was in pain. She must be. Who wouldn't be?

"We need to move on", Annie announced suddenly and stood up. She took her gun and glared the door. "I'm not sure is it good for him to move yet", Reiner answered and looked Jean. "Hey, I'm okay, don't worry. I've rested enough", Jean mentioned. He felt a lot better. He didn't want to be burden and if there was something, it was better move.

Annie opened the door and checked the area. After she exited, Jean and Reiner followed her. Jean was ready to face the horrors of the lobby, but he was surprised when he realized that there wasn't as much bodies as there was before. What the hell? Oh yeah, blood and other shit was still where it was supposed to be. On the floor. But some of the bodies had disappeared. Why?

Reiner was walking next to Jean. Before Jean noticed, the other man gave him the gun he had had before. That was something everyone here seemed to need. Even though Jean hadn't really any experience about guns. Maybe he'd get better after he uses it enough.

While they were walking around the Crew Deck, Jean realized how lucky Marco and Bertholdt actually were. They had bedroom. There was great amount of tiny bedrooms but there was also bigger rooms that was just filled with bunks. Not privacy much, huh? Bunks were resting against the wall but the beds had metallic doors. So there was still chance to close it and have privacy. The thought of it still sucked. Must have been great to have own bedrooms, even when they were tiny little shitholes. Still better than those weird bunks.

They moved to the different looking place. It looked more luxury than the other places they had been. "What is this place?" Jean asked. Annie glanced at him before she turned her head and looked forward. "Executive Quarters. Senior staff used to live here. Now when everything is out of control and no one here to lecture, I'd say that this is the place where the elite members lived. Like captain and others", she explained. Oh. Makes sense why this section had better decoration and was a lot more comfy.

"You're an engineer, aren't you?" Annie asked. Jean nodded and looked her. "Yes, I am. Why you're asking?" he asked. She didn't give any answers.

When they arrived to the big hall, Jean had confused expression on his face. Wait a minute, what is this? This place was shuttle bay. "Cowards..." Jean said and snorted. Of course elite members had their own hall where they'd escape if something happened. Surprising fact was that there was still shuttle that hadn't escaped. It didn't make any sense. Who wouldn't try to escape here?

"I want you to take a look at the computer. I'm not sure does the shuttle still work. If it works, we can get the hell outta of here alive", Annie said. It made Jean angry. "No fucking way. I won't leave here yet. Not until I find him. Besides, we already have Kellion here too", Jean resisted. In fact it was good thing that here was another shuttle. More people could escape. But Annie seemed to want to leave right now and that's the reason why Jean didn't agreed with her.

Annie stared at him couple of minutes until she grunted. "Do you really think there's anyone alive? This place is living hell. All of my co-workers are dead. I saw how most of them died. Almost the whole security was whipped off and it didn't take more than what, ten minutes? Oh yeah. The captain was an ass, he only cared about that stupid Marker. What even is that thing? I'll tell you, it's evil. It's the whole reason why this all is happening. It's bad omen." Annie didn't look happy. Jean understood well why she just wanted to leave.

"Hey, don't fight. Stop it", Reiner cut off. He didn't want them to fight with each other, it wasn't time for that. "Annie please, you're the one who knows more than me and Reiner. Please, I just want to find him. I really do. I don't care about this ship and I don't care if it's possible to repair it or not. Please. Try to understand", Jean whined. He felt how his eyes started to fill with tears.

No one really understood his desire to find the only human he needed to his life. The only man who was the most precious to him.

Annie stared silently. She was clearly giving her judgement to him. Jean was surprised after he heard how she let big sigh. "Fine, I'll help you. But you better promise to stay alive and help me with this shuttle or next time I'll let them bite your whole neck off", she grunted. Her words made Jean feel relieved and he was already grateful. Annie really was his guardian angel.

"Thank you Annie. Thank you so much", Jean said. It was the only thing he was able to say at the moment.

"Don't you dare to cry now or I'll punch your face. Then you'll look like those monsters", Annie threatened and it made Reiner chuckle. He was clearly amused but at the same time he was disconcerted. It seemed that Annie didn't act like this a lot.

Communication device on Annie's suit made buzzing noise. She lifted her right hand and clicked tiny button. The hologram screen appeared but it didn't show anything. "Who's there?" Annie asked and looked at the screen. There was distractions too much. The contact was weak.

" _Annie.... where are you?_ " a single voice asked. It made Reiner wince. The voice was definitely Bertholdt's. No doubt about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yush! ~  
> Wanna hear a secret? The next chapter is actually already written and under my beta-reader's judgement. I think I'll be able to upload it really soon! Yay, I hope these are great news! ^_^  
> So we got new character in the story. And I'll tell you that we will see Annie a lot. After all she's Jean's guardian angel, right? Jean don't say it to her, she might not like it!
> 
> See you soon! （っ＾▿＾）  
> And the text isn't perfect, I know it so if you see mistakes or something else, you know what to do! Thank you ~


	5. Connection problems

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I knew she wouldn't survive. But that's at least something you can still do for them. She was still human after all."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi sweethearts ~ ^-^  
> So I just got this chapter back from my beta-reader and now it's here!  
> You know what is really shitty thing? Trying to find some music what will help you. And it's even more problematic if the songs are in Finnish and I'm trying to write English.... Hngh  
> Oh well, I hope you enjoy! C:

There was no doubt about it. It was Bertholdt who tried to make contact with Annie. Signals were disrupted and it was hard to recognize background voices. There was too many things going on.

"Bertholdt? Is that you? Where are you, the signal is pretty weak. Can you get video on? I can't see anything on the screen", Annie said and looked at Reiner. He was very worried, you could tell it from his facial expression. It seems that no one actually knew that help had arrived.

Buzzing noises were loud. There were other noises as well and it sounded like Bertholdt was trying to fix the problem. Loud snap made Jean and Reiner almost jump to the ceiling but Annie stayed still.

The screen made still buzzing noises but after another snap, the hologram screen finally showed a picture. There was man with black hair and terrified expression on his face. He was staring Annie. He had nasty looking wound on his left cheek and it was bleeding.

"Bertholdt!" Reiner shouted and now it was Jean's turn to remind him that it was better to keep quiet. They didn't want to reveal themselves to the monsters. Bertholdt's expression changed from terrified to extremely interrogative.

"R-reiner?" he squealed. He looked like he couldn't believe it was Reiner. Reiner moved behind Annie and he hoped that Bertholdt could see him. His eyes grew wider and he looked like he was going to burst out crying.

"It's ok Bertholdt, it's ok. I'm here. Jean's here too. And others as well. You ok? Where are you?" Reiner tried to reassure and hush him. He saw how someone's hand reached to Bertholdt's shoulder. Someone was comforting him and patting him, trying to make him relax.

"Is that Marco? Bertholdt are you guys alright? Where are you, we will help you", Annie asked. Bertholdt was clearly saying something, but the buzzing got louder and they weren't able to hear what he said. Then the video image lost contact and there was nothing on the screen. Buzzing was so loud that it was almost hurting.

" _.....The Medical Deck...._ ", they were able to hear before they lost completely contact. It was all silent. Annie lifted her gaze and stared Reiner and Jean. She was going to say something but was interrupted by another call. But this time it was Levi who called Reiner.

Reiner picked it up and another hologram screen appeared. It looked like he was running. "Hey Levi, what's going on?" Reiner asked. Levi turned his head and then the voice of gunshots filled the room. Soon he turned his head back to the screen. "We're under attack. Where are you?" Levi asked. Sasha and Connie's whining and Eren's gunshots made most of the background sounds but there was also roaring and running steps.

"We're on the Crew Deck but we were going to move on to the Medical Deck", Reiner said. Levi shot couple of times again and then moved. "Alright. We didn't have chance to fix enough here but we will come back later. We need to move on, we can't kill them all. There's too many of them." It was surprise that Levi still had calm voice. Background voices revealed that others were scared as hell. No surprise.

"Be careful, okay?" Reiner asked. Levi didn't answer. He cut off the connection. Reiner looked at Annie and Jean.

Something made clinking noises. Annie and Reiner were already alert and had guns on their hands. "Better get going then. Those things won't hold back after they find someone who isn't like them", Annie said. She took the leader's role and ran. Jean followed her and Reiner watched their back.

They faced couple of monsters, the same kind of what they had seen earlier. Annie was very good when it came to killing those bastards. She didn't shoot as many times as Jean and Reiner. "If you want to kill them, cut off their limbs", Annie said after Reiner had blew up one of the monster's head, but it still was trying to kill them. So, cutting their limbs seemed to be the most effective thing if you wanted to destroy them. Annie had so much more information than they had. It was such an blessing that they had found her.

While they were heading back to the tram, they faced another kind of monsters. They were a little bit different than the earlier ones. These new monsters looked like they had once been females. Their stomaches were open and everything inside them was being shown. They had long arms on their shoulder, with blade-like things coming out of them. The difference between the earlier and this new one was that these were missing their jaws. They sounded more like females too.

"Watch out!" Annie said when something flew close to Jean and Reiner. "What? Are they spitting on us?!" Jean asked when he realized that the strange slimy fluid came from its mouth. "Yeah, I call them spitters because they like to spit more than grab you. Don't underestimate them, though, they can rip off your head very fast if you let your guard down. I've seen it", Annie told him and shot the spitting monster.

It felt so good when the tram was finally in view. Reiner and Jean hopped into it while Annie was still shooting the monsters. There was great number of them, where the hell did they even came? It was nice and quiet but then suddenly they had just showed their ugly faces. Annie shot one more time and then moved into the tram.

Jean was pleased when tram's doors closed and the tram started to move. Reiner sat down and swept his forehead.

Annie told them several facts or theories about the monsters. She had seen more than just two types of them. It seemed that the monsters didn't actually feed themselves with humans. They didn't need food. If they saw any human near, they usually attacked and killed, sometimes very brutally and sometimes just quickly.

"I don't know what started it, but I can tell it for sure that someone must have brought them here. From the mining planet I assume. Not sure but there's nothing else that sounds more real theory than this. It must have started from the Medical Deck. Can't really tell what's the real fact", Annie said and looked the big hologram screen. "The monsters you guys have seen seems to be the most typical race. I call them slashers because they mostly wants to slash you into tiny pieces. Sometimes they try to bite your neck off."

Jean couldn't help but feel how he had goosebumps on his back. They had only seen those slasher and spitter things... And there was more than those? No fucking way. But Annie's serious face made him sure that she wasn't pulling his leg. She wasn't kidding. She was speaking truth. The ugly truth.

"What do you think, should we even try to repair this ship?" Reiner asked. Annie looked at him and then she shook her head. "Are you really asking that? This ship isn't worth it. This ship is now living hell and if you want to repair it, go ahead. I wouldn't do it. If you bring Ishimura back to Earth, you'll help those things. It looks like they want to breed but they need hosts for that. They'd turn Earth into same hell like Ishimura already is", Annie answered. She sounded somehow angry.

The tram stopped and opened its door. The trio was surprised when they saw crying woman who was sitting next to male corpse. Her sobs were painful. She lifted her head when she heard footsteps. She had blindfold so she didn't see anyone. Blindfold was wet and bloody.

"No way... is someone there? Help me... please, help me." She reached her arm toward the tram, but she couldn't move. Her both legs were missing. Annie walked close to her and touched her arm. "Don't worry. You're okay now", she hushed. Wounded woman smiled and nodded. "Y-yes...."

Both Reiner and Jean were surprised when Annie wrapped her arms around the young woman and hugged her. The woman sobbed again and hugged back. "Will I ever get home again?" she asked. Annie started to stroke other female's long brown hair. "You will. You will survive and you will never again have to face this kind of situation anymore", Annie said softly.

Her comforting words made brown haired woman nod again and she was crying silently. "Thank you..." she whispered. Annie still stroked her hair. When the sobbing ended, Annie placed the now dead woman back to floor. She looked behind and stared at Reiner and Jean who were still watching her with dumb faces.

"Why did you lie to her?" Jean asked when they continued their journey. Annie's face was expressionless. "I knew she wouldn't survive. But that's at least something you can still do for them. She was still human after all." Annie's answer send tiny shivers to Jean's back. Annie seemed to be always so cold and the one who didn't care others. But now she did something Jean might not be able to do. She comforted them even though she knew they will die. She gave them hope and let them die with other emotions than fear.

Jean started to understand why she did it. If he would be at the same situation where the woman was, he would be scared as hell. And if someone would came out of nowhere and comfort him while he was dying, it would be the best thing at the moment. Jean clenched his fist. He was such an loser compared to Annie. He didn't think others or he wouldn't comfort those who were dying. He was just an coward.

They arrived to the security station. It was all messed up with blood and other things. Things and trashes were lying around the floor. The area was big and there was three huge doors which leaded into different sections. One of the door was messed up, it looked like someone had built barricade to block the door to the access for the Ishimura Clinic. Definitely there had been pretty large barricade but now it was exploded into a tiny pieces. Clearly someone had wanted to go there.

"Bertholdt? Bertholdt where are you? We're here now. We're waiting on the security station. Can you hear me?" Annie sent message to Bertholdt. Reiner looked around and Jean was pretty interested about the little store what was in the room. It looked like typical cash machine but when you clicked the screen and went to the menu, it was really a shop. Nice. Sadly Jean didn't have any money with him. Maybe they'd figure out later how the shop worked.

To be honest, Jean was actually more interested about the whole shopping system. How did they have supplies for the shop, where did they come from? Was there some kind of storage for them?

Jean scratched his head before turning back to his comrades. Annie tried to contact Bertholdt and Reiner looked like he was on the verge of exploding with worry. He was worried about Bertholdt. Jean was surprised how he was calmer than Reiner. Shouldn't he be the one who was doing stupid things and being miserable and worried as hell? Oh well he understood very well how Reiner felt.

"No answer. I can't contact him", Annie sighed and looked very preoccupied. "It would be faster if we split up." Her words made Reiner and Jean shook their heads. "No! Not in a million years, no no no. That's very bad idea", Reiner said. "I know it's faster way but if we're all alone, no one's watching others back. It's better to stick together."

Annie stared at them until she nodded. It was the only good thing they would do. "Well then, where should we start looking for?" she asked. When Reiner and Jean couldn't say anything, she lifted her head toward the Ishimura clinic. "There?"

Jean didn't really like the idea about the clinic. For fuck's sake, someone had built barricade to block its entrance. Why did people build barricades? Because that place is dangerous. Something must be waiting there. Jean wasn't protesting though. He looked the other doors and guessed which one of them was more creepier. The Research wing or the Imaging Diagnostics Ward? Nope, neither of them sounded more tempting. No labs. Anything else than those things. Jean hated them for a good reason. He had heard scary stories about labs where they researched and did some very odd things. Nope nope nope, he didn't want to look forward them.

It seemed that they all agreed then. Whatever waited in the clinic should prepare itself. They were coming now, no matter whether it wanted it or not. The door opened and the trio headed straight to the corridor.

Funny thing was that the Medical Deck was the brightest deck in this whole ship. But now it was dirty, broken and covered with blood and other fluids. It was also very dark, some of the lights didn't work anymore. "Why is there a hole in the wall?" Jean asked when he saw perfectly round hole on the metallic wall. How did it even got there? Why it was there? Why he was even asking these questions like curious little kid? "No idea. Don't ask me." So Annie didn't know the answer either. Interesting.

The waiting room didn't look much better than other rooms they had seen. It was just small area filled with seats and vending machine. The thing what made Jean question the whole place was the fact that there was huge glass windows. "Who wants to see what's going on in the Emergency Room? That's just... too much", Jean mumbled while he looked the windows.

He had good view to the dark E.R. Somehow it looked empty. There wasn't much beds or anything else they might need. Weird. "It looks like they have used most of the stuff for barricades or for other things. Don't know", Reiner said and shrugged his shoulders.

The fact that this whole place was Marco's working place made a twist in Jean's stomach. Why? Who really wanted to work in place like this? Well maybe it looked more normal and better when there wasn't chaos or monsters but still. Jean felt very uncomfortable just by thinking this place and how it was before something went wrong.

The Emergency Room's lights turned on when they moved to the room. With lights on they were able to see that there was actually more beds than they had guessed. And almost every bed was bloody and had dead body on it. Boxes and other stuff was just lying around the room. It was messy and nasty looking place.

"We should check E.R's hallways", Annie said and headed to the big door. She tried to open it but it was locked. And not only that, her attempt to open the door triggered emergency alarm on. Alarm made loud peeps and it didn't take long until they heard how one of the air conditioning duct's grid dropped to the floor. Two slashers came and roared. "Jean do something, the alarm attracts them here", Annie commanded and started to shoot the monsters. "We will buy you time but be quick" Reiner promised and helped Annie. They both shot the monsters. Then another showed up. And another one after that.

Jean didn't like the idea that he had to turn his back to those monsters. But he couldn't do anything but trust that Annie and Reiner would protect him. He stared at the little control system next to door. He had to hack it. There was no other way to open this stupid door. He felt how couple of sweat drops ran down his forehead. He wasn't sure if he was skilled enough to hack Ishimura's systems. Ishimura had pretty intelligent system and it had some self-conscious programs. Like the program what made sure that it destroyed all the little asteroids and others what would make damage outside the ship.

"Hurry up Jean." Jean heard Annies nervous voice. He looked behind and when he saw that there was more monsters, he turned back to control system. Little beeps and errors made him angry but he tried to stay calm. If he lost his patience now, they would all be doomed. He changed couple of wires and hacked every possible way he could. "Jean!" Reiner was the one who this time called him. "I'm trying to do my best!" Jean shouted and continued.

He combined the last wires and was satisfied when the door's light turned to white. "It's open, it's open!" Jean shouted and opened the door. After him Reiner and Annie moved to other room and shot the monsters. When finally the door closed, all of them let out a sigh of relief. "Good job", Reiner said and patted Jean's shoulder. Jean was proud of himself. He managed to hack the door's system and unlock it.

Jean realized soon that they all looked like shit. Annie looked like shit, Reiner too. He bet he looked as much as his comrades. They were all sweating a lot and the smell of sweat was disgusting. Somehow Reiner had managed to get slimy blood on his face and Annie's face had dirt. Jean didn't even want to know what it exactly was.

They looked around. "Holy shit!" Jean shouted when he realized that the Emergency Room's hallways were full of beds and corpses. Corpses lying on the bed, on the floor, on the corner. Everywhere. It looked more like shitty morgue where they wouldn't give a single fuck about the corpses and just left them lying around.

Annie tried to contact Bertholdt again. She tried hard and her hard work started to pay dividends when someone finally answered her calls. There was that same loud buzzing noises again and it really disrupted everything. If they tried to speak or get answer, the buzzing were sometimes so loud that they didn't hear anything. It also hurt like hell and felt like their ears would soon start bleeding.

"Where are you?" Annie asked. Bertholdt said something but buzzing was too loud. And then the call was cut off. They lost connection again. "Damn it" Reiner muttered. He didn't look okay, not at all. He looked worried and at the same time frustrated. There were other emotions as well. He was sad, very sad. Jean turned his head away and looked at the hall.

Reiner and Annie tried to get contact back. While they were doing that, Jean started to wander around. He wanted to get his mind somewhere else. Before he realized, he had started to examine every body that was lying around. He was looking at them and making sure that none of them was black haired male who had freckles mostly covering his cheeks and nose. He made sure none of them had the same brown eyes. His eyes. Marco's cheerful and lively eyes.

He was relieved when none of the bodies he had examined turned out to be Marco. Suddenly Jean's interest moved to one door. The text above it revealed that it was a room for medical supplies. For no any good reason Jean found it very interesting. He moved in front of the door and tried to open it. It was locked, of course. But by unknown reason Jean pressed his ear against the door and closed his eyes. The world around him was silent, he focused all his energy to listening what might be behind it.

_Buzz. Weak buzz._

Jean's eyes opened and then grew wider. What the hell, he was sure he just heard quiet buzz behind the door.

"Jean what are you doing?" Reiner asked. He and Annie stared at Jean. What was that guy doing? "I heard something!" Jean said. Reiner and Annie looked each other and then they moved their gazes back to Jean. "You sure? You know, most of this deck's doors are strong and thick. They mute sounds inside the rooms", Annie said and soon she was standing next to Jean.

Jean looked little bit offended. "Jeez thanks for trusting me so much. I'm not crazy, I'm sure I heard something." Annie rolled her eyes. "I think you're a little bit crazy. After all you're the one who was looking for someone in the public shower room", she teased. She knew Jean was still embarrassed about the earlier.

Reiner laughed when Jean just flipped off to Annie. "Alright, alright. Let's check it", Reiner said. He was interested to see what was behind the door. But something inside his head also told that it might be bad idea. There might be a monster waiting them.

"I need to hack the lock system, it's locked." And then Jean was hacking another lock system. It didn't take as long as it took earlier because he was calm and there was no need to hurry. Soon the lock system made little beep noise and the red light turned into white. The door was unlocked.

"Okay", Annie said while Jean took deep breath. "Whatever there is, be ready. It can attack at the moment the door opens."

The door opened and Annie was the first to step inside. She didn't turn her gun's light on. When she stepped into the room, the lights turned on. Jean and Reiner moved to the room after her and looked around.

There was two corpses lying against the corner. Some of the lockers had been opened but some of them were still closed. Someone has been there. Maybe those corpses were trying to help themselves while they still were alive.

Reiner was about to say something but Annie hushed him. "Shhh... Can you hear that?" she asked and stayed silent. Jean and Reiner looked each other and then they tried to focus on hearing something. Annie was right. There was some silent voices coming from somewhere. Gasps. Someone tried to breath quietly but they weren't able to do it.

Annie didn't say anything but she pointed one of the lockers. She moved next to it and glanced Reiner. Then she turned her look back to the locker. It felt like time had stopped. Her hand moved to the handle. Reiner lifted his gun and target it to the locker's door.

The locker was opened. Nothing jumped from there. Annie took her gun and moved in front of it. Her face changed into surprise and little shock.

Something jumped from the locker and knocked Annie down. Reiner was ready to shoot but Annie raised her hand toward Reiner and Jean. "Don't shoot!" she shouted. The thing from the locker clinged to Annie. Annie was still surprised until she wrapped her arms around the thing. It started to sob. " _Annie..._ " it said and revealed that it wasn't strange creature. He was a human. Human who had been hiding inside to locker. It was strange because he was tall man.

Reiner lowered his gun and stared at Annie and the other man. His face turned into shock. "Bertholdt?" his weak voice asked. Jean took a better looks at the man. Oh dear. It really was Bertholdt.

Bertholdt turned his head to Reiner and Jean's way. His face was suddenly turned into horror and he started to gasp air. "No way.... no way... no!"

He stood up and backed until he was on the other corner. He had started to tear his hair and his eyes had gotten wider.

"Hey it's alright, calm down Bertholdt. It's me, Reiner." Reiner took one step to Bertholdt but stopped when the other man shook his head wildly. He was breathing fast. "No no nooo! Stay away!" he shouted. Bertholdt started to scratch his cheek. The left cheek what had nasty looking wound started to bleed again.

"Bertholdt stop it. Calm down, it's ok", Annie said and touched the black haired man's arm. She made him stop the whole scratching thing. "No you don't understand... I've seen Reiner here before.... It was just a monster who was hiding behind Reiner's look! They have done it so many times that I don't believe anymore!" Bertholdt whined and was seeking some kind of protection from Annie.

Reiner was in misery. This was the worst thing what has ever happened to him. He gave his gun to Jean and took one step behind. "It's okay Bertholdt. I know you're scared as hell. C'mon, I don't have any weapons now. You can take a look and see if I'm a monster." Annie lifted her eyebrow before she patted Bertholdt's back. "It's okay. You know I won't give them a chance to hurt you. Not now when I've found you", she said.

Bertholdt looked down. He was nervous and sweating. Annie leaded him in front of Reiner and held his hand. "Touch him. Does his skin feel like monster's skin?" Annie commanded. The tall man bite his lower lip and slowly raised his other hand and touched Reiner's face. They both stared at their eyes.

Annie let Bertholdt's hand free. Soon the other hand was on Reiner's face too. Bertholdt examined his face, touched his cheeks, his forehead, his jaw. He was starting to relax. Even if his mind didn't recognize Reiner, his body did. It didn't take long until he gasped his breath. "R-reiner?"

Reiner smiled and nodded. "It's me, Bertl. It's me." Reiner pulled the other man into his embrace. Bertholdt's deadly looking eyes caught sight of life. He wrapped his arms around the muscular man and rested his head on Reiner's shoulder. "It is you.... It really is you", he whispered. Bertholdt let tiny sobs again, but now Reiner stroked his back and hushed him.  
"It's alright."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had little problems with this chapter's ending. At first It didn't satisfy me and I was fighting with this chapter a lot. Yeah I'm speaking to you, friggin' chapter ò-ó  
> The first lost sheep was finally found... but where's the other sheep?  
> The next chapter is already written but I'll warn you that the next chapter will be really messed up. Oh noh. 
> 
> See you next time! And thank you for your interest! I'll promise the other sheep will be found soon! ^_^  
> My beta-reader had problems with this chapter too so there might be bad typos and other messed up shit.... You can tell me if you see something and I'll correct them!


	6. Forsaken sympathy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Why are you running? Why are you trying to escape? It's me"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! ^_^  
> Here it is, the new chapter. Before you read it, I need to link you couple of pictures so that you get better view about what is the RIG thing Jean and others are talking about on the story. 
> 
> RIG looks like this:  
> http://oi56.tinypic.com/u7rdj.jpg
> 
> It's one part of their suits. RIGs monitor the lifesigns of an individual and for example if the person dies, it makes sounds like heart monitor when the line goes straight and heart stops. RIG also contains parts that goes to the user's wrist. The wrist part is used for the calls and holographic projectors create the hologram screen so they're able to see each others faces or other data what they had received from other people. The RIG on the picture above is engineer's. Civilian RIGs are a little bit smaller and simpler
> 
> This is the typical civilian RIG:  
> http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/deadspace/images/c/c4/Dead_space_ship_sign_032-noscale.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20081127143955
> 
>  
> 
> Okay I think you've been prepared enough! ^_^ Enjoy!

Bertholdt looked tired. He sat on the floor and Reiner was sitting next to him, stroking his hand and waiting. They had decided to stay in the medical supply room for awhile. All of them wanted to know what had happened, why Bertholdt had stuffed himself into the locker and the most important question, why wasn't he with Marco? They had to wait for Bertholdt to calm down. Meanwhile Annie found something what she could use to clean the wound on Bertholdt's left cheek.  
　  
"Did you lock the door?" Jean asked. He was lying against the metallic wall, in front of Reiner and Bertholdt. The black haired man nodded. "Well then you did nice job. You locked it before you stepped in, right?" the blonde continued. Another nod. Bertholdt hadn't planned to leave the room.  
　  
"What happened?" Reiner stared Bertholdt. His gaze was gentle and he didn't want to push too much. The question was still hard to deal with. Somehow Bertholdt managed to collect himself. He looked like he was going to tell them everything. But then he broke down and was sobbing again.  
　  
"I'm so sorry", he whispered and turned his head toward the two corpses on the other corner. "I'm so sorry!" Reiner tried to calm him. He pulled the sobbing man into his embrace again, hushed and stroked Bertholdt's black hair. "I killed them." Jean and Annie stared Bertholdt. They weren't sure they heard correctly but then Bertholdt pulled back from the embrace. Tears flowed on his cheeks.  
　  
All of them were quiet. They waited that Bertholdt would be ready to tell the reason why he had killed those men. "I killed them... I had no choice. I had to do it. They weren't going to make it. A-and there was no other choice!" his voice was weak and painful. Annie moved close to the corpses and took a better look. "Did you slit their throats open?" she asked after she realized that both of them had throats open. "I... I had a saw. It's on the other locker. It didn't do much damage to the monsters but it was still better than nothing."  
　  
Jean bit his lower lip. He shouldn't do any stupid moves at the moment when Bertholdt was still in this state of mind but he couldn't stop himself. "Bertholdt, was Marco with you?" he asked. "Jean..." Reiner murmured but Bertholdt cut off his lecture. "He was. He was.... oh god, Jean. I'm so sorry... He was with me all of the time when we were just trying to survive here", Bertholdt said. He pressed his other hand on his forehead and thought of something.  
　  
"Marco... I'm so sorry..." Bertholdt whimpered. Jean looked like he just wanted to punch somebody, maybe the black haired man who was sobbing. He was getting angry because it sounded like Bertholdt had actually done something bad. "What did you do?" Jean asked. He felt how someone touched his hand. Annie was glaring him. "Stop it", she said angrily.  
　  
When Bertholdt stopped sobbing and Jean calmed down, the black haired man tried to tell something again. "I... I... I left him. Because he asked for it. He wanted to be left alone. But I didn't want him to... to get killed. So I locked him into other room. The room seemed to be safe. I hope he's okay... I'm not even sure was it really him..." Bertholdt managed to tell. Jean raised his eyebrow. He wasn't sure Bertholdt was telling the truth because something didn't seem to be right. Bertholdt told that he wasn't sure the person he locked inside other room was Marco. How couldn't he be sure? How many Marcos he thought would be here?  
　  
Soon Jean remembered what Bertholdt had told them earlier. He said he had seen Reiner here before but it was just a monster hiding behind Reiner's look. What was he talking about? Jean didn't quite understand. Bertholdt spoke like he was out of his mind. Was he? Could they even trust him?  
　  
Reiner was trusting him. Annie might be too, because after all Bertholdt was her good friend. "You know, we can go back there and get him out. If you can't open the lock system anymore, I can hack it open", Jean said calmly. Maybe he shouldn't be so tough, Bertholdt had nice amount of traumas. He had to kill two of his comrades. He had to lock one of his best friends into another room. He had seen the real hell and maybe he was there when it started. He might know more than even Annie because he was working on the Medical Deck after all.  
　  
"I don't know if it's a good idea. Marco.... He wanted to be alone. I don't know..." Bertholdt muttered but then he stared Jean. Jean was staring back. Bertholdt was thinking something until he sighed. "Fine... I'll lead you there. But you should prepare yourself. I don't know what's waiting there."  
　  
Jean didn't like Bertholdt's warning but he decided that it wasn't worth to try and dig more things. He was glad that the other man agreed to take him to where Marco was.  
The Emergency Room hallway was all silent and dark. Bertholdt was leading them now. Reiner was close to him, he was ready to catch Bertholdt if he wouldn't be able to walk. He was shivering and nervous.  
　  
Bertholdt stopped almost on every corner and looked around before he continued. He was very dubious about the corridors and rooms. Reiner and Annie were ready to shoot everything what might jump on their way.  
　  
They stopped in front of big door. Little tag revealed that it was doctor's office. It was hard to figure out what was the doctor's name because the tag was dirty and broken. Bertholdt opened the locking system's code box and started to click the password. How did he know it? No idea. Jean still somehow believed that the reason why Bertholdt knew it was because of his career choice. He was nurse after all.  
　  
Tiny beep made Jean little nervous. The door opened and Annie was the first one who stepped inside. Bertholdt followed him and then Reiner and Jean.  
　  
"Marco? Marco I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have left you here. But I did what I promised. I promised to come back", Bertholdt whispered. Jean's gaze was locked on him. Weird, if Bertholdt was going to come back, why had he locked the medical supply room's door from the outside?  
　  
The office's light turned on and revealed what was waiting them on the room. Walls were covered with strange symbols and texts. Things were lying around the floor and someone had definitely ripped all of the papers they had found. But for their disappointment, no one was in the room. It was empty. No sign of Marco.  
　  
"Huh? But... but, how? I'm sure I left him here!" Bertholdt whined and looked around. Jean felt anger again. Now he wasn't sure could he even believe Bertholdt anymore. Jean wasn't sure why but it seemed that Bertholdt knew more than he let them know.  
"What are those symbols? Did Marco do this?" Reiner wondered. The symbols were covering every possible wall. How did someone even do them? Some of them looked like they were painted with blood. Jean examined them. Those symbols remind him of something.  
　  
"It's Unitology's symbols. I knew they are pretty crazy sometimes but this... this is the new level. I've never seen anything like this", Annie told. She got questioning gazes from Reiner and Jean. It made her sigh. "Look, I bet that half of the crew belonged to the Unitology cult. That's why I know more about their strange religion. This religion is pretty scary. Didn't you listen anything when they were speaking about this stuff in school?" Both men shook their heads. The Unitology separated opinions.  
　  
Jean touched the wall and took a better look at the symbols. "Marco doesn't even belong to that stupid cult. I bet he didn't do any of these", Jean murmured. He knew Marco didn't believe that bullshit what the Unitology cult had tried to spread for 200 years already. It was popular cult but it still separated people. Jean didn't believe it either.  
　  
While they tried to think what they should do now, Reiner decided to call Levi. He was worried about them, the last time wasn't very pleasant. The problem was that the signal was too weak and he wasn't able to contact Levi. It was bad thing. They needed to stay in touch with the other team.  
　  
"I can't contact Levi", Reiner said and looked Jean. "Did you try contacting anyone else? Like Eren for example?" Jean asked. The muscular man then tried to contact Eren. He was surprised that Eren actually answered pretty fast.  
　  
"Hey what is the situation over there? I couldn't contact Levi." Eren's face looked little bit horrified on the hologram screen. What had happened? "I think Levi's RIG got broken or something. He can't use the holographic display and he can't call you guys", Eren said with worried tone on his voice.

Resource Integration Gear (they usually just called it RIG) was the best thing advanced technology had made. RIG didn't only integrate the health management but it also had the strength augmentation system. This system assisted them when they had to work in impossible and dangerous environments. Thanks to it, it gave information about its user's health and other things. RIG also had holographic display what was the thing they used to call each others and see others on the hologram screen. Most of the RIGs contained navigation system. It was perfect for them who worked on the spaceships and on the mining planets.  
　  
"What? How did it happen, is he alright?" Reiner asked. He was more worried now. It didn't sound very good. He was able to hear Levi's mumblings on the background. "Yeah, he's ok. One of the monsters broke it but I think we can repair it. By the way, Levi said that the captain's RIG's chip card would be pretty useful. We tried to locate him and we found out that his corpse is somewhere on the Medical Deck. I bet it's on the morgue. Can you check it? If you find him, take the chip card and bring it to us."

Jean didn't like how Eren was giving them commands. No way, Eren wasn't the captain. And still right now he acted like he was the captain of the Kellion. "Did you find anyone?" Eren asked suddenly. Reiner nodded and smiled. "We found Bertholdt. We're still trying to search Marco. Bertholdt told us that he must be on the Medical Deck. While we search him, we will also take a look for the captain's RIG. Be careful."  
　  
When the call ended the silence fell on the room. "Alright.... so I guess we head to the morgue next?" Annie asked. She got nods as answers.  
　  
They headed to the morgue. It wasn't surprise that the USG Ishimura had its own morgue. It was normal that when people worked on the mining planets, accidents usually happened and dead members had always been shipped back to the Earth. Just to get buried or to given to the church of Unitology. Mining planets were dangerous working places but it was better than nothing and mining was necessary. Some of the Earth's natural resources had started to run low. If they didn't mine other planets and asteroids, the resources would some day completely end.  
　  
The morgue wasn't lovely place. Not at all. There weren't as many bodies as they had expected but there was enough blood as a reminder that once there had been great amount of dead people. It was before the distress signal. Bertholdt seemed to be very nervous when they stepped into the morgue. Jean's guess was that the whole alien thing started from here. From the morgue. It was also very logical idea.  
　  
When the lights turned on they had a chance to look around. There were still bodies here and there but not as many as it seems that there had been before. The morgue had an extra room. It was glass-walled and you could see what was going on in the room. Bertholdt told them it was an autopsy room. Yeah, nothing strange except that who the hell designed it to have glass-walls?  
　  
For their luck the dead captain was inside the autopsy room, lying on the table. "I think we should hurry and get the RIG's chip card. This place is making me feel uncomfortable", Jean complained. Annie rolled her eyes and walked closer to the glass-wall. "Do you know the password for the door?" she asked and looked Bertholdt. He nodded and went to click the code for the lock. Meanwhile Reiner took better view at the room.

The captain's body looked absolutely disgusting. Whatever had killed the poor bastard had done nasty job. When the door opened, the smell was so disgusting that it made Jean and Bertholdt's eyes water. For unknown reason the captain's body was in extremely bad condition. It was rotting and smelling, blood had dried on his skin and clothes.  
　  
Annie started to remove captain's RIG. It was harder than she had thought because the chip card was stuck. "I can't get it off", Annie finally said and tried her best to get it off. Jean tried to help her. He didn't remember that the RIG was this tight and hard to get into tiny pieces. He also didn't like the fact that he had to touch a dead person, the dead captain. It was something he would rather not do but now he just had to. There was no other choice.  
　  
Somehow they finally managed to get the chip card out. But then came the next problem.  
　  
The air conditioning duct's grid dropped. Strange looking creature crawled to the autopsy room. It jumped to the table. The creature had human torso and legs. The only things what reminded it had probably been a human before. It didn't have any kind of stomach. There was just red flesh under the spine. The thing looked a little bit like those strange looking fishes, Batoidea. It had wings which were just made from loose skin and bones. The creature had proboscis. It lifted its proboscis like a scorpion. It had sharp needle-looking thing at the end of it and the monster just stabbed the needle thing right into the dead captain's forehead.  
　  
"Get out of there!" Reiner shouted. Annie and Jean ran out of the autopsy room and Bertholdt closed the door. He locked it and the group headed back to main door. On the main door Annie stopped and looked behind. The captain's body had turned into black like it had been burnt and slimy. There was other pair of hands coming out from his shoulders. The strange creature had turned the dead captain into a monster. Into a slasher looking monster. "Infector...." Annie mumbled.  
　  
"Stop day dreaming, c'mon!" Jean grasped Annie's hand and pulled her away from the main door. The door closed but they were able to hear how the monster was beating the door. They ran back to the elevator and took a deep breath when the elevator started to go back to the upper floor.  
　  
"What were you thinking, standing there like that?" Jean asked and stared at Annie. They all tried to calm down their fast breaths. "The thing.... it infected the captain. It turned him into a monster. So that's how they breed. There's a type that infects the dead bodies..." Annie had started to understand how those creatures acted and worked. She had wondered how there was just more and more of them coming but now she knew how they infected others.  
　  
The surprises didn't stop there. When the elevator's doors opened, the group discovered that the floor was now covered with something slimy fluid. Reiner exited the elevator and stepped to the slime. The slime under his foot made nasty sounds. "This whole place has gone mad", Jean snorted. Where the hell did that slime even came? He didn't want to know to be honest. Whatever it was, it was disgusting and smelled like trash can full of outdated food what's gone bad.  
　  
"I don't know about you but to me, it looks like that slime is alive", Annie pointed out after looking the floor. She was right. They took another look and the slime had little vein-looking things. "I don't want to know more about it", Jean informed. He really didn't want to know more. Annie was very interested about everything they faced. She wanted to know more about the monsters but at the same time she didn't really look like she wanted to be here anymore.  
　  
They walked fast, they didn't want to stay long anywhere. The whole place was creepy enough to make them all feel uncomfortable. Jean glanced Bertholdt sometimes. He studied other man's behavior and facial expressions. He wanted to trust him but something inside Jean's head told him that it was better that at least one of them didn't trust him blindly. He was also a little bit angry to him. He had locked Marco (or that's what he was telling the whole time) into the doctor's office.  
　  
Reiner and Bertholdt stopped and then Jean and Annie did too. "Can you hear that?" Reiner asked. They all were silent and focused. They heard how something clacked around the hallways. The shape of human walked to the same corridor. The person was standing at the end of the corridor and they had something on their hand.  
　  
Whatever it was, the person was pressing it against the metallic wall and sliding it.  
All of them pointed their guns toward the person. They weren't sure was it even a human or was it just a monster. Bertholdt opened his mouth and stared the person. Jean realized that Bertholdt actually recognized the person. "Marco? How did you get out of the room?" Bertholdt asked and walked forward. Jean lowered his gun and felt how his heart started to beat faster. Was that person really Marco? Reiner and Annie were still pointing their guns at the end of the hallway.  
　  
There was a single chuckle. "Bertholdt... there's another lock system on the inside of the room... you forgot that?" The voice sent goosebumps to Jean's body. The voice was familiar but at the same time it felt like it was stranger's voice. "Stop it, you're acting weird again. It's alright, there's nothing to be afraid anymore. See, there's Reiner and Annie!" Bertholdt said and took glance behind before he turned his face back to other man. "Jean's here too. He's been searching for you this whole time. They have been searching for both of us. Remember? I said we will get help and the help's finally here."  
　  
"J-jean?" Now that was the voice Jean knew. "Marco!" Jean managed to say. He moved next to Bertholdt and looked forward. He felt how his heart missed couple beats. It was Marco. It really was Marco. "It's me, Jean. Don't worry, everything's gonna get better", Jean said and started to walk toward the end of the hallway.  
　  
Marco stood there like he was petrified. Jean moved slowly close to him but then the freckled man started to walk toward the group. While he moved, the same clacking noise echoed on the walls. Marco was holding the Rock saw. It was mining instrument designed to mine and cut ore from rocks but now it seemed that it was his weapon against the monsters. "Marco please, don't do that. You know that voice reveals us", Jean said. He used gently tone because he was sure Marco wasn't alright. He was scared as hell and probably acted like Bertholdt had acted before.  
　  
Jean spread his arms and waited. Marco was so close. He was able to see the freckles on his face. Tiny smile grew to his face. He was alive and he was here now. Jean had been waiting for this moments.  
　  
Then he stopped. The clacking noise stopped as well. Jean tilted his head and watched Marco. Why did he stop? "Marco?" Jean's voice was trembling. His whole body was shivering.  
　  
Marco's eyes grew wider. He looked like he had just seen something what woke up fear on him. "It's ok, come here. It's ok", Jean said and smiled little bit. He was trying to make Marco feel safe.  
　  
Suddenly Jean felt how someone pulled him away from Marco. And then he saw how blue laser blade almost cut him. What was going on? He realized that Reiner had pulled him farther from the freckled man. The Rock saw had laser blade turned on. The laser was used for slicing and cutting various materials and it was quite powerful instrument.  
　  
"Look at his eyes. He isn't thinking clearly", Reiner whispered into Jean's ear. Jean took a better look at Marco's eyes and noticed that it was true. Marco didn't look like he was thinking clearly. He looked like he was seeing horrible things and something what made him feel like threatened animal. It was so wrong. What was Marco actually seeing? "Marco..."  
　  
Marco started to blink his eyes rapidly. He lifted his gaze and looked straight into Jean's eyes. "Noo...." Marco whimpered. He started to gasp, he looked like he was going into shock or something. "J-jean. I-is it really you?" he asked. Jean moved away from Reiner's grip and walked closer to Marco. "It's me. You recognize me, right? It's Jean." Jean wanted to touch Marco, but he was afraid Marco would try to hit him with the saw. He didn't want to get his hand cut off.  
　  
Jean let small cry when Marco just turned around and ran away. "No Marco! Wait, don't go! It's dangerous!" Jean screamed and ran after. Why did Marco escape, why did he just ran away like it was the best choice he could do at the moment?  
　  
"Jean!" He heard behind. Others tried to keep up with him. Jean ran fast, he didn't want to lose Marco. Not now, not when he just had found him again. "Why are you running? Why are you trying to escape? It's me", Jean tried to but he wasn't sure did Marco hear him anymore. Marco was faster than he had thought  
　  
Jean heard door closing and followed the sound. He opened the door and found out it leaded to other corridor what was covered with the same slime they had seen. Absolutely disgusting.  
　  
"Don't run like that", Reiner lectured when the others finally catch up Jean. Stubbornly Jean just mumbled something and stepped into the other hallway. Before anyone had chance to react, a giant thing came out of nowhere and cling tightly on Jean's other leg. It was giant fucking tentacle. Or at least it looked like tentacle. Not sure what it was but it pulled Jean and made him lose his balance.  
　  
The tentacle started to drag Jean on the corridor. Jean was disgusted by the fact that he was lying on the slimy floor and some fucking tentacle wanted to pull him somewhere. He didn't even want to know what the hell it was, where did it came from or to what it belonged. The grip was tight and Jean felt pain on his left leg.  
　  
At first Reiner and Bertholdt took his hands and tried to pull him away but when Jean let out a painful squeak, both of them released his hands. The tentacle was stronger and if they tried to compete it in the tug of war competition, it would end up when either Jean's hands or leg cut off. And probably Jean didn't want that to happen.  
　  
Annie tried to shoot the tentacle but she wasn't sure where. She was also little afraid that she would end up shooting Jean accidentally. But Jean wasn't petrified like the last time when his life was at the stake. He managed to aim his gun to the giant slimy tentacle and shoot it. He wasn't sure did he really hurt the damn thing or not but when he realized that there was blood coming out from it, he continued the shooting.  
　  
When he shot the tentacle fourth time, it released his leg and retreated fast. Jean was able to see that the tentacle had escaped to one of the round holes on the wall. Alrighty then, now he knew why there was round holes on the wall. There was slimy and ugly tentacles, waiting for their prey. He didn't want to know how many people had already been taken by one of those things. And he definitely didn't want to know what happened if the tentacle got a chance to drag its prey into the dark hole.  
　  
"You didn't learn your lesson last time? Again running like an idiot", Annie mocked him. Well this time Jean didn't ran after stupid whispers. But where did Marco go? "You know I ran after him. You saw him as well." Jean then glanced Reiner and Bertholdt. He didn't want to hear anymore comments about his habit to run like fool. And he was sure that if it was Bertholdt who ran away, Reiner would do the same thing as he did.  
　  
Jean cleaned his suit. He was sure Levi wouldn't like to see him when he was dirty, covered with that slime. Bertholdt helped him get clean.  
　  
"I think we need to have some kind of strategy when we'll see Marco next time. He isn't himself right now. Did he act like that when you left him to the office?" Reiner asked and looked Bertholdt. "I shouldn't have done it. He told me he saw some strange things but I thought it would be better and safer for him if he was in the office", Bertholdt answered. Suddenly he felt punch on his cheek and it made him whine.

"Jean!" Reiner and Annie shouted. Jean was angry. He was angry at Bertholdt and now he had decided that he'll blame Bertholdt because of Marco's strange behavior.  
　  
"Did you really think that was the best fucking idea ever? Bullshit, you made him feel more scared than ever! I blame you, it's your fault that he is now running there and making himself an easy prey. How could you just lock him like an... like an fucking animal? You thought you have rights to do that?" Jean was so frustrated.  
　  
Annie had tight grip on his hand. Reiner had moved closer to Bertholdt and was ready to protect him if Jean decided to try and give another punch. Reiner tried to calm the situation.  
　  
"Jean stop it."  
　  
"Fuck you! Fuck you all, you don't want to see what I am seeing! You don't want to look at Bertholdt like he's guilty because you know the fact that he is. You pretend you don't know it!"  
　  
Soon Jean found his back pressed against the metallic wall. "Annie let him go", Bertholdt said and looked the blond woman. Annie stared back until she snorted and let Jean go.  
　  
"I know I did wrong and I know I'm guilty. But you don't know what the situation was back then, you don't know all of the details. I didn't lock him because I felt like it was funny thing to do, I swea--"  
　  
"Well then why the hell you did it? If you really had a good reason, why are you giving us only bullshit? Why don't you tell the truth? Is is too dirty for the daylight? Tell me, I'm all ears!"  
　  
Bertholdt straightened his back and stared at the floor. Annie and Reiner were now watching him. All of them had questioning gazes on Bertholdt.  
He lifted his gaze and looked back to Jean.  
　  
"Alright. I'll tell you everything."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has been the most difficult one so far. You don't even have idea how much I fought with this chapter. Time to time I was like "this is bullshit, I need to write it again from the beginning!" and then after awhile I was like "oooooh this is good... Yeah this is good shit"
> 
> I've changed thing so much that I can't even remember how this chapter looked like at first. But I hope it's good by the way it is now.
> 
> We caught a glimpse of Marco, yay! But wait, the lost sheep escaped? Damn. Well don't worry, he can't be so far from the others... And damn it Jean, you're good at getting into the dangerous situations.
> 
> The next chapter is almost finished. I'll have to change couple of things but it's ready soon.  
> See you guys soon again! *smooches* ~ ♥


	7. Ring around the Rosie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "How do we get out of here now?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeeyy everyone! ^_^  
> I'm at the good mood so I checked this early and quickly and now it's here!  
> The reason why I'm very happy is because I just got summer job! I haven't got any of them before even though I've tried to get one so badly. Today I got call and they said I got one of the jobs I've applied for. Whoaa.... This feeling is unbelievable!
> 
> Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter! <3

_The slime made nasty sounds under their feet. The whole deck was dark and there were screams somewhere far away. They tried to move fast but silently. Tiny flashlight was enough to light the bloody corridors and hallways._  
  
_"No way.... the whole Medical Deck... it's gone now." Marco's weak voice echoed on empty walls. "It's alright Marco, we just have to get some supplies. And contact, yes. We can try to contact the security. Annie can help us... she can. If we can contact her, we can get out of here. You know, we can trust her." Bertholdt's voice was messy. He tried his best to stay calm but he was scared. Scared just like his friend was._  
  
_"I think it's better to run", Bertholdt said after they heard some dangerous noises coming from the air conditioning ducts. And then they were running. Marco was holding the rock saw he had snatched during the chaos on the Crew Deck tightly. Someone had forgot it and because no one was looking for it, it was better that they had took it. It was their only weapon against those monsters which were now having a great time in USG Ishimura._  
  
_They had faced three massive groups of monsters but the monsters hadn't seen them because they had always hide whenever there were monsters looking for a prey. And when the monsters attacked someone, they had moved and escaped. Both of them hated that they couldn't help anyone even if they wanted to. Desire to live was too strong and they didn't want to risk themselves._  
  
_At some point at the Medical Deck they met three survivors who decided to move with Bertholdt and Marco. But the bigger group attracted the monsters' attention and they had to fight. Two of the new members of the group belonged to the security and they had guns. Then there was Marco who was trying so hard to kill the monsters with the rock saw. The rock saw was strong tool but it had pretty weak effect on the creatures._  
  
_They managed to escape after most of the monsters were dead or hurt badly. They started to hide again. But for some unknown reason the only woman survivor started to mumble strange things. She was getting crazy, they realized that. Bertholdt and Marco had experience about people who were out of their minds so both of them tried to calm her and tell her that it's gonna be okay. But she didn't listen. "They will kill us and they will take our bodies. Whether you want it or not! It's their wish and we're just defenseless compared to them!" she screamed. She teared the rock saw away from Marco and sliced her throat open with the laser blade. Right before their eyes. Bertholdt had seen that kind of shit before but her suicide shattered Marco's mind._  
  
_When they finally arrived to one of the treatment room, Marco started to act weird. He threw glass bottles to the floor and pressed his hand on his forehead. The security guys asked Bertholdt if his friend was alright. "Let me handle this." It was all Bertholdt said and then he had moved next to Marco._  
  
_"Hey Marco, is everything ok?" He asked but Marco didn't answer. Bertholdt believed Marco was just in shock. This chaos was like it came straight from the nightmare. Marco was also trying to deal with the view of the woman committing suicide and the fact that he might not survive. "Marco.. I know it's hard but we can do this. We can get through this together" Bertholdt promised._  
  
_When they were moving again, Marco was getting worse. He complained about the whispers. "Marco, I can't hear any whispers. It's all silent now", Bertholdt told him. But it didn't help. Marco stopped couple of times and just glanced around._  
  
_They got surprised by two slashers. Both of the monsters started to kill brutally their new friends from the security. Bertholdt knew they wouldn't be able to help them anymore, so he just took Marco's hand and escaped, dragging the freckled man with him._  
  
_Marco suddenly calmed down. He wanted to be alone for awhile. They were hiding again but Bertholdt did what Marco wanted. He gave him more personal space and left him to think things through. Bertholdt checked the corridors. No sign of anything. Silence only._  
  
_Everything seemed to be normal when they continued their journey on the Medical Deck. Marco was calm. He was calm but not for long. Suddenly he stopped again, pressed his hands on his head and looked like he was in pain. "Marco what is wrong?" Bertholdt asked but then he felt pain on his left cheek. Warm blood started to drain. Marco looked like he was ready to use the rock saw again, but then he just let painful squeal. "I'm so sorry Bertholdt, I'm so sorry. Forgive me, I didn't mean to... I thought I saw something..."_

 _To be honest, Bertholdt was scared now. "It's alright Marco. I understand." His voice was soft, but he was scared. Scared for Marco. Scared for his own life too. "You know, I still have to do a couple of things. I think you should stay in one of the doctors' office. Those places are pretty safe." He was relieved when Marco just agreed and didn't protest._  
  
_Bertholdt left Marco to the first office they found. "I'm scared", Marco said. His eyes were full of fear. "I know Marco. I am too. Stay here, I'll come back soon", Bertholdt said and smiled a little bit. Marco studied his face and then nodded._

_"Promise?"_

_"I promise."_

_"....I'm sorry Marco", Bertholdt whispered when he was locking the door. After the door let tiny beep noise, he heard roaring and footsteps. He started to run._

* * *

　　

　  
Bertholdt was trying to hold back tears that had filled his eyes. Three pairs of eyes were staring at him, waiting him to calm down. But he didn't calm down. No, he had tried that too many times.  
　  
The sight was very depressive. Bertholdt broke down completely. Reiner wasn't fast enough to react and try to hold Bertholdt. The black haired man slumped to his knees. He was gasping a lot. Then there was it. The corridor was filled with the cry of a hopeless man. And he was crying like he had never cried before. It didn't took long until there was tiny puddle of tears on the floor.  
　  
Jean had never seen anyone crying so painfully. He knew Bertholdt was a little bit shy and didn't like to get too much attention to himself, but now he was crying like there was nothing else he could do and Jean felt guilty. Like he had pushed Bertholdt to his extremity. Bertholdt didn't deserve it. He wasn't bad guy, he never had been.  
　  
Reiner was now holding Bertholdt, hugging him and trying to soothe him. Annie didn't try to help Bertholdt feel better but his wailing definitely had effect to her too. She looked like someone was crushing her heart.  
　  
No one dared to ask Bertholdt finish his story. Jean was pleased that he knew the truth now. About what happened to Marco and why did Bertholdt lock him inside the room. Reiner was petting Bertholdt's hair. He had calmed down after he wasn't able to cry anymore. Now he was just trying to choke down the sadness what was still trying to get out.  
　  
Jean moved closer to Bertholdt and Reiner. Reiner didn't at first noticed him, he was trying to make Bertholdt feel better. But the other man lifted his gaze and looked Jean with fuzzy eyes. Jean squat down and made eye contact with the black haired man. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I thought so differently... You are not a bad person. You hear me Bertholdt, you are not bad. I'm so sorry", Jean said and then his eyes meet with Reiner's. Reiner was looking him but didn't do anything to stop him when Jean touched Bertholdt's other cheek. The one he had punched. "It must have hurt so fucking much. I'm a piece of shit... I hope there won't be any kind of bruise or anything. Shit..." Jean didn't have any words. He didn't know what was he supposed to say.  
　  
But then he was surprised when Bertholdt cupped his face in his hands. Jean stared again straight into Bertholdt's green eyes and the other man was staring right back into his light-brown eyes. "It's alright Jean." Bertholdt's voice was now calm. His eyes were still little bit glistening but he had got over the hopeless sadness. "I know you're not bad person either. And besides I deserved it. I must have looked like very suspicious. I just hope you understand that I would never harm Marco. Or anyone else. He is my friend. You are my friend. Together we can help him. We can help Marco, he needs to calm down. He needs you."  
　  
Bertholdt's words were like tiny knives. Tiny knives that carved into Jean's soul, into his heart. They gave him hope and they had a sedative effect. Jean couldn't answer. He just nodded and then smiled a little bit. Bertholdt smiled back and moved his hands away.

When they were finally moving again, they tried to listen if Marco was moving somewhere close. They would be able to hear his footsteps if he was close. And if he was clinking the rock saw again, it would help them get near. Sadly luck wasn't with them. There where no other footsteps than their own, no clinking. No Marco.  
　  
Jean felt like he was starting to lose his mind too. This was getting ridiculous. He tried so hard but nothing worked out as planned. And Marco was still somewhere, maybe fighting for his life or just running away.  
　  
When they returned back to the Emergency Room's hallways, they found abandoned rock saw that was just lying around. Annie picked it up and examined it. Then she turned to look Jean. Jean hit his fist to the wall. He was getting so tired of this sick place and he was getting tired of all this uncertainty.  
　  
The Emergency Room was empty when they arrived there. Or they thought it was. There was one single slasher laying on the floor. It looked dead so they were walking to the waiting room's door. When they were close to the monster, it jumped and tried to attack. This time Jean was so frustrated that he was the first one to shoot it. He shoot it on the leg two times. The monster wasn't able to get up on its feet anymore. It crawled toward him, using its long hands. Reiner and Annie were about to shoot it but Jean lifted his leg and flattened the creature's head with his foot. The blood splattered to his clothes and to the floor.  
　  
The monster was still alive, but Jean lifted his foot again and stomped both of its hands so many times until they were weak enough to be severed with touch.  
　  
Annie, Bertholdt and Reiner looked at each others. Small tear ran down on Jean's cheek. The trio saw it but none of them commented. They understood that Jean was in pain but they wouldn't be able to help him. It was Marco who had that power. They were nothing compared to Marco when it came to making Jean feel better.  
　  
Jean swept his face and glanced the trio before he continued to the waiting room.

At the Medical Deck's security station they heard a soft hum. Someone was humming. At first they weren't sure where it came from. But then they figured out that it was coming from the tram station's direction.  
　  
" _Ring around the rosie_  
_Pocket full of posies_  
_Ashes, ashes_  
_We all fall down_ "  
　  
Someone was singing now. The voice was still weak but at the same time it was soft and sweet.  
　  
" _Ring around the rosie_  
_What do you suppose we_  
_can do to fight the darkness_  
_in which we drown?_ "  
　  
The closer they got to the station, the louder the singing became. It wasn't too loud though. Maybe because the person didn't want to attract the monsters. Who knows.  
　  
" _Ring around the rosie_  
_This evil thing, it knows me..._ "  
　  
The voice was now recognizable. It was so familiar that it made Jean's heart beat faster. They arrived to the tram station. At first they saw two corpses what were there when they had arrived earlier. But now there was also someone who was sitting on the bench. The person was so familiar that none of them could believe their eyes at first. Jean moved closer to the benches. Person who was singing turned his head and looked straight into Jean's eyes. Jean was staring at the freckles. Then his gaze moved to a chocolate brown eyes.  
　  
Jean bend over and wrapped his arms around the male. His eyes started to fill with tears. Couple of them had already managed to escape to run down his face. He felt how arms wrapped around his body. He let tiny sob. It felt like the time had stopped.  
　  
" _... Lost ghosts surround me_  
_I can't fall down..._ "  
　  
When the last verse ended, Jean started to cry. He cried like Bertholdt had cried before. Now he was the hopeless child. No, he wasn't hopeless. He was the lost soul who had found finally his soulmate. The most precious human to him. Someone who wasn't replaceable.  
　  
"Marco!"  
　  
Jean felt how Marco pressed soft and warm kisses to his neck. His warm breath against his neck was something he had missed so much. Jean moved his hands to other man's shoulders and backed a little bit so that he was able to see his face. "Don't ever run away again. Please. We can get out of here together. We all can." Jean's voice was weak and he was still sobbing. But Marco's warm smile started to calm him down. The blond man couldn't help but press sweet and loving kiss to his lover's forehead.  
　  
Marco didn't say anything. He looked Jean and smiled like he always did. Jean pressed his hand against Marco's cheek and examined his face. He got worried because Marco wasn't saying anything. Was he alright? "Marco? Please say something", Jean begged. Marco's tight grip started to lose. It made Jean worry and he looked at the others like he was asking them for help. Bertholdt moved closer and observed Marco's body language.  
　  
"Jean.." Marco's voice sounded suddenly so lonely and frail. "Yes? What's wrong?" Jean answered immediately and turned his gaze back to Marco. Marco tilted his head a little bit. "Is it really you? Is it really you, Jean? I.. I don't want to get killed by any monster... If there's no hope anymore... I know the right amount for the last syringe... I don't want to get killed by a monster..."  
　  
"Marco what are you talking about?" Jean asked even though he knew exactly what Marco was talking about. "Stop it. There's no need to kill yourself. It's me. It really is me. Did you hear what I said before? We will survive. I won't let any monster near you. I promise that. There's no need for you to think something like that." Jean's voice was worried and sad. It made him sad that Marco was forced to think something like that. The thought about it was already making him sick. Poor Marco didn't deserve any of this shit. No one here didn't deserve it.  
　  
The atmosphere vanished when the gunshots started to fill the station. Annie and Reiner were shooting down the corridor. "Let's go, there's too many of them", Annie commanded. The corridor echoed with roars and running steps.  
　  
Jean moved his gaze back to Marco and tried to get him up. "We have to move now. Marco can you stand?" No answer. Marco closed his eyes. "No! You can't pass out now."

"He already did it", Bertholdt said and offered help, but Jean was stubborn and didn't want any. He lifted the other man into his arms. Oh dear lord, Marco was so light. He had definitely lost weight during his time here. "Hurry up!" Annie yelled. She was getting angry because there were monsters coming toward them but they hadn't moved to the tram. She wasn't sure how long she and Reiner could hold back those fuckers.  
　  
Bertholdt took Jean's gun and stood next to tram. He waited Jean who was carrying Marco. When Jean and Marco got to the tram, Bertholdt hopped in and soon Reiner and Annie entered. They were still shooting. They stopped when the door closed. "Where are we going now?" Bertholdt asked. It was good thing that he was calm, the atmosphere started to change into comforting and relaxing.  
　  
None of them were sure where they should go now but then Eren contacted them and gave them an order to return to the Flight Deck.  
　  
"I hope we leave now. I don't want to be here, this ship is not worth getting rid of your life", Annie blurted. "I bet we can leave and report to the Earth that Ishimura must be rejected and destroyed. There's no way this can be fixed anymore", Jean said and snorted. He hoped so. This ship wasn't worth it. Yes it had served well but now it was lost.  
　  
Reiner and Annie started to talk about something. Bertholdt just listened them and didn't pay attention to Jean and Marco. It was better to let Jean take care of Marco.

Jean sat on the bench and held Marco's limp body in his arms. He closed his mind from the world around him and focused only on Marco. "Everything's gonna be okay", he whispered and pressed light kiss to his lover's forehead, "I will protect you from now on. I don't want to lose you." His other hand stroked Marco's fluffy hair. Jean was still afraid that he was just dreaming and when we would wake up, Marco would still be missing. He wouldn't be able to handle it. He sank his nose into his hair and took a deep breath. He wanted to fill his lungs with Marco's scent.  
　  
It was a long way to move from the Medical Deck to the Flight Deck. No one complained about it though. They tried to relax, it was good time for that. At some point Marco started to wake up. Jean was more than happy about it. Marco didn't act like he had acted before. He curled up against Jean and once in a while he let out small sobs like a child. Jean was petting his hair and whispering sweet words to calm him down.  
　  
Marco looked like he still couldn't really believe that Jean or Reiner were real and at the same time he apologized over and over again. He was still shocked about the fact that he almost hit Jean with the rock saw. He realized that and he was thinking about it. Jean was really curious and wanted to ask what he had seen back then. What made him do it. But because Marco was already in a bad shape, he didn't want to push him too much. The most important thing was that he had found him finally. It was all he had wanted.  
　  
When they stopped at the Flight Deck's tram station, they noticed that Levi and others were already there. There was other tram too. "They are waiting us at the flight lounge", Reiner said. They decided to head straight to the flight lounge.  
　  
Marco was walking on his own legs now, but Jean was walking very close to him and often he glanced the other man. He wanted to be ready if Marco couldn't walk. He wanted to be there and catch him if he lost his balance. It felt like dream when they were walking on the empty corridor. It felt like a nice dream. Reiner had found Bertholdt and Jean had found Marco. Both of them were alive.  
　  
Levi looked surprised when they arrived to the flight lounge. He knew they had found people but he was still surprised. "You didn't find anyone?" Reiner asked. "Everyone's dead. We weren't able to fix it completely, there were too many of those things..." Eren said. Connie and Sasha were sitting on the benches. Both of them were pale as hell. But their faces changed when they realized that the others had arrived. "You guys... you guys are alive." Connie's voice was higher than usual, he must've seen pretty scary stuff. He seemed to settle down after realizing the fact that his friends were still alive.  
　  
"Why are you staring at me?" Annie's angry voice got Jean's attention. It got everyone's attention.  
　  
Annie and Eren were facing each other. Annie looked annoyed and Eren looked very doubtful. "No reason. I'm just wondering." Eren's answer didn't satisfy Annie. No, it made her more annoyed than ever. "What is it?" Annie's cold blue eyes were full of frustration.

"Stop it Eren. No need to act like that." Reiner tried to get Eren stop but the brunette wasn't listening him. Eren's gaze finally moved from Annie to Bertholdt and now he was looking at him, studying his face and everything. Then he moved to Marco and studied his expressions too. Jean stood next to Marco but he was able to see how the freckled man started to get little nervous. Eren's gaze wasn't friendly at all.  
　  
"Drop it Jäeger. You're making everyone nervous."  
　  
"Maybe they have a good reason to be nervous. Did you know that the captain was actually murdered? He didn't die by any accident. It was a murder."  
　  
The silence fell on the lounge. "Eren... You know this ship was full of people who worked here. How can you be sure that the one who killed the captain is still alive? Fuck, look around. This ship is full of monsters and dead bodies." Jean was getting annoyed. What was the point of this conversation anyway? Sure it was bad thing that the captain was killed but it didn't matter anymore.  
　  
"You can't never be sure. Maybe the murderer is still alive and ready to stab your back when your eyes aren't watching."  
　  
"Are you telling me that I'm number one on your list of culprits? Give me a break. You're not making any sense", Annie snorted. Levi didn't say anything, he decided to keep distance and stay away from this mess. If Eren was in the mood to pick up fight, he didn't want to participate until there was no other choice. But by the look of Levi's expression it was sure thing that he was already annoyed as hell.  
　  
Everyone was sure that Eren and Annie would start to argue at any moment but then loud explosions distracted them. "What the hell was that?" Levi asked and was the first one to head out of the lounge. The door for the hall area was running slow. When it finally opened, the big group stepped outside and looked at the platforms. Then they saw the source of the big explosion.  
　  
The shuttle looked bad. There was a fire inside of it. Strange but it still was on fire. It looked like something bigger had smashed it many times, it had started to break into pieces. "No fucking way!" Eren shouted. It felt like they were looking at slow-motion when the final explosion came. USG Kellion had exploded perfectly into tiny pieces. Their shuttle was destroyed completely.  
　  
"How do we get out of here now?" Sasha's squeak echoed on the big hall. USG Kellion's group was looking at Levi, trying to search answers from him. Jean turned his head toward Annie. Annie didn't have any kind of expression on her face. She was just standing there and watching Levi as well.  
　  
Jean winced when he felt hands wrapping around his torso. "They don't want us to leave", Marco whispered into Jean ear. "Don't be silly. We will get out of here and that's the fact", Jean blurted and took a glance at the man behind him. His eyes met Marco's own and they were staring each other. Jean was studying Marco's eyes. They were lacking something but he wasn't sure what.  
　  
"Oi, lovebirds. Better move back to the lounge." Reiner broke the tension between Jean and Marco. Jean wasn't still sure what Marco's eyes were missing but he didn't have chance to study them again because Marco was already heading back to the lounge. Something seemed to have changed but he didn't know what.  
　  
At the lounge everyone decided to need something to drink. They broke one of the vending machines and grabbed some kind of soda cans. Wow, it felt strange that there were soda cans on the spaceship. But no one cared about it. It wasn't time to think about that subject. Jean took a swig of the soda but when the bad taste overwhelmed his mouth, he had to spit it out. Alright, it didn't taste like he had imagined. "What the hell is this?" Jean asked and glared the can before he was looking for an answer from others.  
　  
"It's SUN cola", Bertholdt answered. "Taste like piss", Jean commented and threw the can over his shoulder. It made loud clang when it hit the floor. The orange liquid formed quickly tiny puddle on the floor. "Can't help it. It's been the most popular soda around here and that's why most of the soda vending machines are filled with it." Jean wrinkled his nose. He didn't like its taste but by looking others, they seemed to handle it very well. Bertholdt and Marco drank it without complains. They must've been used to its taste. Eren didn't look like he really enjoyed the drink but he didn't complain about it. Levi and Annie were smart enough to break other vending machine and get juice bottles.  
　  
Jean moved next to Reiner who was studying one of the posters what was hanging on the wall. It had man posing and drinking the orange soda with a pleasure on his face. Behind him there was a big round SUN cola's logo with a slogan 'Tastes great!' It made Jean snort. Yeah right, it tasted great if you liked the taste of cat piss or something else nasty.  
　  
"We need to get more guns. Everyone needs some kind of weapon. Melee weapons are too risky. They'll let those monsters too close." Everyone looked at Levi. Levi was still the leader. Everyone was listening to him after all, even Annie. "There should be emergency shuttles, right? I heard Ishimura had quite few of them." Levi's eyes were now on Annie.

"There's none of them left. When the chaos began, they shot all of them to the space without any passengers. The information about it spreaded quickly and thanks to it, the mass hysteria was born." Annie sounded cold. She was looking at the ceiling. "But... There was a shuttle. Remember, at the Crew Deck. You took us there", Jean said and got Annie's angry eyes on him. Everyone took a glance of Jean before they turned their gazes back to Annie.  
　  
"Hah! She's a liar after all. Told you we can't trust her. She lied already", Eren shouted like he had done really good job. "Is there really an shuttle?" Levi asked. His voice was darker than usual. He was angry. Annie stared at Levi a couple of minutes. "Alright. There is one shuttle. But it's very small, all of us won't fit there. Some of us must be left here if you want to escape."  
　  
"We can leave you here. We can't trust you."  
　  
"Eren you're being fucking kid again, stop it." Jean was getting angry. Eren was acting like a fool. Annie seemed to have a good reason to not tell about the shuttle. Well she should have been honest at the very beginning but the shuttle fact wasn't pleasant. She knew it would create a ferment. And there it was.  
　  
Connie and Sasha looked like they had seen a ghost. They were scared. Even Marco and Bertholdt were getting nervous because of this situation. Everyone seemed like they were ready to argue with each other. The atmosphere was tense.  
　  
"I don't trust you, no matter what you say. You're too suspicious", Eren said and pointed Annie. She didn't pay attention to Eren and that made him even more angrier.  
　  
Levi was leaning on the wall and thinking hard or at least he tried but he was getting disturbed by the quarrels. They were getting too loud. "Can you all just shut up and try to think something else than fighting. You know we shouldn't make loud noises", he said. His angry gaze calmed down the whole room and even Eren closed his mouth and moved further away from Annie.  
　  
Eren was giving angry gazes toward Annie but she was wise enough to drop the subject already. Jean knew Eren wasn't bad guy but sometimes he acted like a brat. When he lost control of himself, he started doing stupid things. It was better that someone once in awhile made him stop before it was too late.  
　  
While they tried to think what they should do, Levi started to fix his broken RIG. The monster had done pretty bad damage judging by the way the RIG flashed its lights. The wrist part of the RIG was damaged as well, it had started to break into two pieces. Jean would have helped Levi if he asked for it, but maybe Levi was too proud to ask help. Or he wanted to fix it by himself. Whatever the reason was, Jean decided to wait if he would change his mind and ask some help.  
　  
"Hey, how are you doing?" Jean sat next to Marco and studied his face. Marco was anguished by the look of his face and eyes. His was panting a little bit and he had couple sweat drops on his forehead. "I don't know", he answered, his voice was silent and trembling. He turned his head away from Jean.  
　  
Jean touched Marco's hand and the contact made the other man turn his head back to the two-tone-haired man. "You haven't been eating well. Your face is lacking color." Jean was still worrying about the dark haired man. Marco tilted his head but then he smiled. "The food here isn't as good as it is in home, you know."  
　  
Somehow Jean managed to laugh a little bit and it felt so good. When was the last time he had laughed? "I'll cook something good for you. And you must eat, no complaining. I won't listen any of them! If you don't eat I'll feed you." It made Marco chuckle and Jean was more than proud of himself. Marco's laugh was like music to his ears. The whole guy was special. "I'll wait for your cookings."  
　  
The anxiety in Marco's eyes started to wear off and it was good thing. Marco started to relax. He winced when Jean suddenly pull him into his embrace. "It's been so long... You don't have any ideas how I've missed you. Don't leave ever again." Jean was whispering sweet words to Marco's ear. The words worked like a magic, they made Marco's smile wider. "I love you Jean." There it was. The words Jean had wanted to hear for so long.  
　  
The words he had missed so much. The magical sentence.  
　  
"I love you too. I love you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my favorite chapter ^_^ I think you can guess why ~  
> I haven't started to write next chapter yet but don't worry, maybe tonight I'll start it.  
> This chapter turned out to have more fluff than I had originally planned. But who cares, everyone loves cute moments, right? 
> 
> I hope we see again soon! ^-^  
> Smooches to you all sweethearts! Thank you for reading this story and leaving comments, they always makes my day brighter and gives me boosts to write ~
> 
> Oh btw, the song Marco sang is called Ring around the Rosie. It's pretty scary and especially the version what was made for Dead Space! O.O Gosh it gives me goosebumps. If you wanna listen to it, here's the link:  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl7O8_kWeOc


	8. Annie had a shitty day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I don't know... there's just something I want to say so badly. It feels like I'm going mad if I can't say it, it feels like it's tearing me apart from the inside."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it's time for new update, yay!  
> It's time to hear what Annie has to say.  
> This chapter focus more on Annie and her version about what happened in the Ishimura when the monsters started to terrorize them.  
> Enjoy! ~ ^-^

The flight lounge was unusually quiet. Everyone was minding their own business and no one wanted to break the calm atmosphere what had fell in the room. Levi was still repairing his RIG, it gave him awfully lot of work. Sometimes there were small curses when it didn't want to get fixed or he made a mistake. He wasn't in the mood to pay attention to the whole room and it was the reason why Annie had a chance to watch silently how Levi was fighting with the RIG. Maybe she found some kind of humor about it or she was just wondering something but didn't want to disturb Levi. To be honest it was a better choice, after all, Levi didn't look like he wanted to socialize with others at the moment.

Reiner and Bertholdt were talking with Connie and Sasha but it sounded more like they were just murmuring to each other. Still, the conversation seemed to have sedative effect on Connie and Sasha because they didn't look the way they had looked before. They were able to laugh too even though the situation was hopeless. Eren was just sitting around, close to the group and minding his own business. By the look on his face, he was thinking.  
　  
Marco had fallen asleep again. He was sleeping a lot but Jean guessed that Marco hadn't had any sleep after the fall of USG Ishimura. Maybe he had had moments when he was able to sleep but not for too long. Jean had tiny smile on his face. He stroked Marco's hair and listened how the other male let out small snuffles time to time. It was pretty sweet, Jean hadn't ever actually paid attention to Marco when he was sleeping because Marco was always the early bird. Or he had just simply forgot this habit, because they had been separated for so long. He was sure that the freckled man had some kind of natural clock inside him and it was the reason why he was always waking early.  
　  
Listening to his snuffles made the other man sleepy. Jean pressed his head against the metallic wall and sighed. He was tired and he knew everyone else was tired as well. He closed his eyes but then he was interrupted by Connie's laugh. What was so funny? He was too tired to get up and find out the reason plus he was holding Marco. He didn't want to wake him up.  
　  
Electronic beeps echoed on the room. Levi's RIG was letting sounds like it was going to get fixed soon. The sounds were really promising or at least that was what Jean thought. RIG was hard to fix after all, so he was going to give some credit to Levi if he really repaired his equipment without any help from the engineers. Jean finally opened his eyes and took a glance at Levi. He was working with the wrist part of the RIG and connecting the parts. Did he manage to repair it? Jean was very curious now. The wrist part clutched around Levi's wrist and he looked proud of himself.  
　  
"Why do you need captain's chip card?" the question woke Eren's interest immediately and he was looking at Annie. No, he was glaring Annie like she had committed a really serious crime. The blonde woman however didn't pay any attention to Eren, she was looking Levi and waiting for the answer. "It will be very useful at the Captain's Nest. There are some files which can be opened only with his chip card."  
　  
The room fell silent. Everyone stopped talking and looked at Levi and Annie now. "Do you have it?" Levi asked and lifted his gaze to Annie. Annie dug her pocket and then she showed the little blue card what she was holding between her forefinger and middle finger. Eren glanced at Jean like he had betrayed him and oh boy, Jean was sure what was going on inside his head. Eren was probably wondering why Annie had it because he just seemed to love the idea that Annie was guilty of everything.  
　  
The chip card was soon on Levi's hands and he was examining it before he nodded and put it in his pocket. Eren was still staring at Annie but he was more relaxed than before.  
　  
Everything settled down again. Levi was now fixing the other part of his RIG, the part that was placed on the back. Jean's interest was lost when Marco moved. He turned his head back to sleeping man. What kind of dreams he saw? Didn't look like nightmares because he wasn't restless or anything like that. Maybe he saw something what made him feel safe.  
　  
Loud clang made everyone wince. Annie and Eren were looking at the ceiling, Levi did it too but then he focused back to working with RIG. He stopped fixing it and glanced up. Another clang. Marco woke up now and sat up, looking around like lost child. He stayed calm because everything in the room was still like it was before he had fallen asleep.  
　  
He didn't say anything and Jean didn't have a chance to say anything because Levi beckoned him. Marco gave a questioning gaze when Jean stood up and walked over to Levi.  
　  
The RIG was soon looking better than it had looked before. Levi was sitting and waiting while Jean did the last repairs for the indicator located in the back of Levi's suit.  
　  
Something was moving above them, they realized after the noises got louder and louder. Whatever it was, they didn't want to know about it. Everyone just wished that the thing inside the air conditioning ducts would move away.  
　  
It didn't took much time before everyone was closer to Levi, looking around and standing. Sasha looked petrified but Connie had his arm around her shoulders. It seemed to make her less scared than she was.  
　  
When Jean finished helping Levi, he headed closer to Marco. Something was scratching the ducts and the sound sent shivers to everyone's spine. Suddenly the lights turned off and someone let loud squeak. There was no time for anyone to say anything because the metallic clang echoed on the room. Then something dropped again from the ceiling and the room was filled with roars. Two yellow eyes shone on the dark room and footsteps came closer. Levi's calm but loud shout was the last thing everyone heard. "RUN!"  
　  
All of the doors were open, except for the one that lead to the hall where platforms were. Running footsteps filled the room with the monster's loud roars. "Marco! Where are you?" Jean shouted and tried to look around. It was too dark, he didn't see anything except the monster what was a little further away. Jean felt someone's hand grabbing his hand and automatically his first thought was that it was Marco.  
　  
The person pulled him away from the room and was running away with Jean. Jean followed obediently like a puppy. There was another person running ahead of them but something was also following behind. There was another clank and roars, more monsters had found their way to the flight lounge. Jean didn't want to look behind, he didn't want to know how close the chaser was.  
　  
They ran through the long corridor but for their relief there was an elevator waiting. The person ahead entered to the elevator, followed soon by the other person who led Jean. The doors started to close and when they were moving to the upper floor, all of them let out heavy sighs. They were safe now, or at least it felt like they were safe. The elevator was dark, they didn't see each other's faces but Jean didn't care about it. He wrapped his arms around the person who had held his hand and helped him get out of the room. He was ready to whisper honeyed words to the person's ear, but suddenly the other man tried to get rid of him. Tried to wriggle out of his grip.

　  
"Jean let go. Don't curl up against me."

 

"....Eren?!"

　  
Jean felt sudden pain in his chest. No way, the person who had helped him out of the room was Eren. It was Eren, not Marco. He had mix up them or Eren just wanted to be a hero and save the first person close to him back there.  
　  
The elevator was filled with light when the third person turned their gun's light on. It was bright and Eren tried to figure out who was the third one. Eren's face was soon filled with disgust when he realized who was with them in the elevator. "No need to be so rude, I know you don't like me so switch off that expression." Annie's voice was cold and Jean was sure she wasn't happy about the fact that she was stuck with Eren either.  
　  
"If you two start to fight, I'll knock out both of you and leave you", Jean hissed. He didn't want to hear any quarrels and he didn't want to separate them if they started to fight. Eren was muttering something and turned his gun's light on too.  
　  
They exited the elevator after it had stopped and walked around. Eren and Jean didn't have any kind of idea where they were but Annie knew the places so they let her lead them. When she led them to an empty looking room, they didn't complain. Eren and Jean just stepped inside the room and Annie closed the door.

The room looked like it was some kind of break room. There was comfortable looking sofas and vending machines, both snack and drink ones. Posters with encouraging slogans were hanging on the walls. There was also screen on the wall, it looked like tv screen.  
　  
All three of them sat down. They were quiet and tried to listen if there were any monsters close. No voices outside the room, no signs of any other form of life. The whole room was silent until Eren's holographic projectors on the wrist popped open the upcoming call.  
　  
Eren answered and Reiner's face appeared to the screen. "Eren are you okay? Are you with someone?" Reiner asked. Eren nodded and took a glance of his companion before he said anything back. "Yeah, we managed to escape. I'm with Jean... and Annie..."  
　  
Jean and Annie moved closer to the brunette. They watched the screen where Reiner was looking straight into Eren. There was background noises, two other voices were talking. "I'm with Bertholdt and Marco. I heard Levi got out of the lounge with Sasha and Connie. They're heading back to the Bridge, they had to take the tram and escape, one of the monsters was chasing them."  
　  
Jean was more relaxed after hearing that Marco was with Reiner and Bertholdt. He didn't like the fact that he and Marco were once again separated but now Marco wasn't alone. And Reiner had gun, so he was more safe than he had been before. "Reiner, are you guys still on the Flight Deck? If you are, we should regroup again. It's not good to be separated like this." Eren was right, it was better to stay as one group. Bigger groups may attract the monsters but if they unite again, there was a better chance to protect others as well.  
　  
"We're on the control room. Where are you? If you're not too far we might be able to move away from here and meet up with you." Reiner was calm and he didn't look like he was scared. "I can send you a map and directions. We're on the second floor", Annie said and opened her RIG's hologram screen. She started to tap directions at the same time as Eren kept the call on. It was better that they didn't hang up yet.  
　  
While Eren and Annie were busy speaking with Reiner and send some directions and map, Jean wandered around the break room and sometimes he stopped and stared at the posters.  
　  
" _Jean_ "  
　  
Jean winced and looked around. He was sure he had heard a whisper somewhere. He glanced Eren and Annie who were standing on the other side of the room. They were still chatting with Reiner so probably none of them whispered his name. Jean swept his face and turned his head back toward one of the posters.  
　  
" _Jean... It must be put back_ "  
　  
He was sure someone was whispering right next to his ear. Jean turned his head to the left side and glared. He didn't see anyone. Soon he looked at Eren and Annie again. They had ended the call and now they just were sitting and trying to relax while waiting for other's arrival. 'You're starting to go mad, Jean' he mumbled to himself.

" _Death is the beginning_ "  
　　  
"Can you stop that?!" Jean shouted and turned around, looking at the Eren and Annie's direction. Both of them were looking Jean with surprised faces. "Umm... Stop what? What the hell, can't man just sit and try to relax? What is wrong with you Jean?" Eren asked and puckered his eyebrows. Annie was now staring at Jean, her ice blue eyes travelling around the Jean's face. She didn't say anything but she had kind of a strange expression on her face, like she had realized something.  
　  
"Nevermind", Jean muttered and sat on the floor. He didn't want to get more attention because he didn't like the look on Annie's face. What had she thought? She really had looked like she had realized something.  
　  
They waited silently on the break room. No one dared to say anything but the atmosphere was pretty relaxing. They broke the vending machines and gathered something to eat and drink. The snack they got wasn't any gourmet food, like Marco had told before. It didn't taste that good, it was just some dried tomatoes, pumpkin seeds and other healthy but not very tasty stuff. It must be the food they grow on Ishimura and it was just some snacks, so maybe that was the reason why it wasn't like a proper meal.  
　  
Eren took a nap after their pathetic meal. He had moved closer to Jean because he still didn't want to trust Annie. Jean didn't see Annie as an enemy or liar or anything like that. He knew Annie wasn't stupid and he understood why Annie did not want to tell about the shuttle at first. Maybe she had wanted to escape but now she was stuck with their group. She wasn't a bad person and Jean respected her because after all she had saved his ass back in the Crew Deck.  
　  
"Annie... can you tell me how it was to work here... like, before the chaos begun?" Jean asked. He knew Annie didn't like this subject but he was curious and they had time. They were still waiting for Reiner and others. Annie lifted her gaze and stared at Jean until she just sighed and pressed his head against the wall. "Shitty. Annoying. Crazy. You can't even guess how strange the members of the Unitology cult are. They are worshiping strange things."  
　  
Even though Annie was strong and liked to hide her feelings, her face now had somehow sad expression. She was clearly remembering her early life here before this madness started.  
　  
Annie closed her eyes for a moment and sighed again. "Do you want to tell about the time when this..... alien situation started?" Jean's voice was peaceful. He didn't want to push Annie too much, he still remembered how painful she had looked when the same subject was asked.

* * *

 

　  
_"Hey Annie. Having a break?" Bertholdt asked and sat down next to the blond woman. Annie was pushing carrot slices back and forth on her plate and her gaze was on the big windows. The space looked so lonely and dark, but at the same time it was wonderful. All shining stars looked great in the darkness. She nodded as an answer and didn't took her eyes off of the windows._  
  
 _The mess hall was noisy as always. Many workers were eating and chatting with each other, some of them had just come to grab snacks and leave. Most of them were engineers and nurses but there were also a couple of security members._  
  
 _"How was your day?" Annie asked and finally moved her gaze to Bertholdt. He was eating vegetable stew. The stew didn't look so good but the smell was very delicious. It wasn't gourmet food or anything but it was better than nothing. The Ishimura food was lacking meat foods since they didn't have chances to get real meat. In vitro meat wasn't delicious but it was the only meat they could use for the food. It was only meat they could produce on the spaceship. There was no room for any animal farm or anything like that._  
  
 _"Messy and not very pleasant. Full of death again." The expression on Bertholdt face told her that she shouldn't ask anymore about that subject. She knew there was crazy shit going on in the mining planet, the colony there was out of control and captain was thinking that it was only stupid mutiny. It didn't seem to be like that, Annie had seen some information files about the murders and they didn't look natural._  
  
 _It was only a week after they had found the Marker. Annie knew it was inside the Ishimura, the captain had been so excited about the stupid artifact. If anyone asked her opinion, she would answer that she didn't care about it. To her, the Marker looked like stupid big unnatural rock, nothing more than that. She didn't believe the crap unitology cult was spreading. It all just seemed to be too crazy._  
  
 _Annie's RIG informed her about the upcoming call. She picked it up and the face of Chief Security Officer was on the screen. "Annie we're at the Bridge. I need you to come here, I need my whole team here."_  
  
 _Erwin Smith didn't look like he was having great time. No, he didn't have any kind of expression on his face. The man was always serious looking and he wasn't goofing around like some of the P.C.S.I. Security's members were. Maybe he had chosen Annie in his team because she was as serious as he was. "How far are you?" Erwin asked. "I'm at the mess hall. I'm coming now", Annie answered and the call ended. There was no need to ask more information. By the tone of Erwin's voice, she could tell that the captain was ready to give some jobs to the security._  
  
 _"I need to go. See you later Bertholdt, we can talk then." She took her tray and patted Bertholdt's shoulder with her other hand before she left. Annie left the tray to the tray rack and headed out of the mess hall._  
  
 _***_  
  
 _When she finally arrived to the Bridge, there was a scene going on between the captain and Erwin. Well, Erwin was calm like always but captain was shouting annoyingly loud, everyone was able to see fire in his eyes. "Do I want to know?" Annie whispered when she stopped next to one of her comrades. "No you don't. Captain being an ass again."_  
  
 _"No Smith, I won't allow you or any other security teams to go down there! If they want their stupid mutiny, they can have it but I won't waste any of Ishimura's security for them! They have their own goddamn security there, if they can't handle the mutiny, then it's just their own fault!" Captain's words echoed on the big room. There was many pairs of eyes watching the argument between him and chief of security._  
  
 _"I know sir, but it's getting out of hands. My team is capable of being careful and strong at the same time. The mutiny can be a growing problem, it can spread to the Ishimura as well."_  
  
 _"I already said no! No one will go there!"_  
  
 _"Excuse me Captain. There seems to be a problem in the Maintenance Deck's sleeping quarters."_  
  
 _The argument stopped immediately and captain turned his head to the direction where the female voice came. One of the computer workers had came closer and informed them about the problem in the other section. "It seems to be violent problem." She added and then returned to her place._  
  
 _"Like I said, I won't allow your team to go to the planet. We need security here. Now go and check the situation at the Maintenance Deck." Captain was hissing and then he turned his back to the security team. "Yes sir." It was the only answer given to the Captain. Erwin turned around and left the Bridge, his team following him like ducklings following their mother duck._  
  
 _***_  
  
 _The Maintenance Deck was unusually quiet and dark. The workers were missing, Annie noticed that. There were still shuttles what needed repairings but no one was there to repair them. It was odd, definitely not normal._  
  
 _They were heading straight to the sleeping quarters. The whole team was quiet, all of them took this seriously. Usually their team was called the elite team because it was Erwin's team, or at least the other members of security thought so. Some of them were pretty envious because even though Erwin was chief security officer, he was also very respected man and if you got his interest and invite to his team, it meant he had noticed you and that he respected you as well._  
  
 _Annie wasn't even sure how Erwin had noticed her. Her earlier team was very shitty, most of the members just goofed around the Ishimura. Only Annie and two other members of the team had done all the work. But then one day Erwin Smith had came to them and told that Annie and the two other had been transferred to his team._  
  
 _It wasn't that bad. Erwin's team was full of people who were passionate for this job and who really wanted to do good work. There were 10 people in the team including Annie and Erwin. It was quite big but there was no reason to complain about it._  
  
 _There was a tiny splash when they stepped onto something what was flooding on the floor. It was dark, they had to turn their guns' lights on. They hadn't expected what was waiting them. All of them had stepped into big blood puddle. No, the whole floor was flooding with blood. They followed the red liquid and found out it was really coming from the sleeping quarters. "Be ready, we don't know what's waiting us there." Erwin's calm voice echoed before he opened the door._  
  
 _The big room looked like there had been one hell of massacre. By the look of the amount of blood, it was probably the closest guess. "We split up into team of five. Other team checks the right hall and other the left one."_  
  
 _Erwin headed to the right hall with four other members. Annie was in the other team and she was walking toward the door for the left sleeping hall._

_The sleeping hall was quiet like the other room and it was all messed up. There was stuff lying around the floor, papers and other things. Also someone's R rated magazines all torn to shreds. The owner of the magazines was probably mad if they saw that._   
  
_"Hey, there's something." Someone pointed light to the corner. There was separated hand on the floor, all fingers cut off. "What the hell happened here?" "That's some nasty work." "I fucking knew it that the murders would spread to the Ishimura too."_

_The conversation started between the members but Annie didn't pay any attention to them. She just continued examining the room. There were strange noises somewhere, she heard them but she wasn't sure where did they came from. The voices and noises sounded so unnatural. She didn't recognize them or didn't get any idea what was making them._   
  
_"Hey Annie, I think we should--" Loud roar interrupted the speaker. Something ran right past Annie and jumped to the person who spoke. They pointed their lights to the creature what had started to slash hardly its victim. Strange blade-like things were coming out of its hands and the blade things made sure that the poor guy who was under to monster got quickly ripped in half and all of his internal organs were soon out of his body. "Shoot it!" One of them shouted and then the hall was echoing with the gunshots._   
  
_The monster was hard to kill, they spent big amount of bullets in order to kill it. When it finally died, they looked at the thing and tried to catch their breaths. "What the hell was that?!" "I don't know." "Look out!" There were more roars and another two of the same kind of monsters came out of nowhere._   
  
_Annie shot the monsters and stayed further from the other members. It was the reason why she managed to escape after more monster came and others were surrounded. Annie knew she couldn't kill all of the monsters even if she tried so there was only thing she could do now. Flee from the hall._

  
_***_

  
_She wasn't able to find Erwin and the other team. They had disappeared and their RIGs informed her that others beside Erwin and someone else were dead. There were only 3 members out of 10 left. Others were dead. Annie tried to contact Erwin but she couldn't, Erwin didn't pick up and she had no time to wait because there were already two monsters chasing her._   
  
_It felt like a miracle when Annie finally escaped from the Maintenance Deck. The tram was gone, she had to get away by running. It wasn't a pleasant choice but there was not any other choices left._   
  
_While she was running down the corridors, she felt how the whole Ishimura was juddering. It made her almost lost her balance for a moment. Red light was blinking on the corridor and she knew what it meant. "What the hell are they doing?" Annie asked herself and continued running. She tried to contact the Bridge, she wanted to ask why they were sending the emergency shuttles to the space, she was sure none of the workers had pack themselves to the shuttles, so why did they send them?_   
  
_The bridge didn't answer. Annie tried to contact several different people. She tried to contact other security members, different members from the bridge, even the captain of the Ishimura. No one answered._

* * *

　  
"I bet the signals were disrupted back then. There was so much going on, maybe that was the reason why I couldn't contact anyone."  
　  
Eren had woken up during Annie's story and he was silently listening. Jean was staring at Annie and thinking about everything she had told. "When did you hear about the captain?" Jean asked. He glanced at Eren before he turned his head back to Annie's direction and waited for the answer. Annie was shaking a little bit even though she tried to stay calm.  
　  
"I tried to head back to the Bridge after my team was killed in the Maintenance Deck. It was long way, I had to hide sometimes from those monsters. They moved in big groups and because I was alone, I didn't have any chance to kill them all by myself. I needed more ammo since a bigger group of those monsters would have easily slaughtered anyone who was going alone." Her eyes weren't as cold as they usually were. Now Annie's eyes looked sadder than ever.  
　  
"It took a lot of time but when I finally made it to the Bridge, the captain was already dead and sent to the morgue. The Bridge didn't get the information about the monsters before every deck was damaged. From what I heard from the Bridge, there was some kind of error in the main computer system. Because of it all of the emergency shuttles were sent to the space with zero passengers. It was our last hope to get out of here. We all knew we were doomed. We still are and now you guys are too because your shuttle exploded. I'm sorry for this shitty fate." Annie sighed and closed her eyes. There was nothing left to say.  
　  
Eren and Jean looked each other. The brunette man looked like he was regretting all the things he had said before. He couldn't still trust Annie the way Jean already did but he didn't look at her like she was their enemy anymore. Their real enemies were those monstrous things which took dead bodies as their hosts and spread the whole alien thing around the ship.  
　  
Small knocks on the door made all three of them stood up immediately. Annie and Eren grab their guns and moved closer to the metallic door. Jean didn't even have any idea where the gun he had had was. Great job, he needed it and he had already lost it. He seemed to be good at losing things he needed... and persons.  
　  
Jean stood further and glanced at the other two people. Eren gave a sign to Annie that he was ready. Annie answered with tiny nod and opened the door. They both pointed their guns to the direction of the corridor but soon they lowered them.  
　  
"Are you unhurt?" Annie asked when Bertholdt and Marco stepped inside, Reiner coming behind after the duo were in the room. "We're alright. Somehow we managed to stay out of the problems, the detour hadn't any monsters", Reiner answered and closed the door behind him. "If you need something to eat, we have snacks here from the vending machine. It's better to relax while we still can do it."  
　  
Annie sat down again and tried to relax. She had learned by the hard way that it was better to let her body rest when there was opportunity for that. The lack of energy and strenght would be fatal mistakes.  
　  
Jean smiled at Marco and looked at him. Marco was looking at the floor like he didn't want to make any eye contact. It felt weird, Jean wasn't sure why but it just felt unnatural behavior for the man who was usually happy, positive and loved to talk with others. Marco just moved closer to Jean and then stopped in front of him. Finally he agreed to make eye contact with the other man.  
　  
"Is everything alright?" Jean asked. It was more like a whisper, Marco didn't look like he wanted to get attention from the others. He just nodded and sighed. "I'm serious, you don't look like everything is okay. What's wrong?" the smaller man asked.

Marco turned his head away from Jean and stared at the empty corner for a while. Reiner and Bertholdt were talking with Eren but Annie was staring straight at the direction of Marco and Jean. She looked like she had all of her concentration directed at them but her face was lacking any kind of expression which would have given any hints about what was she thinking at the moment.  
　  
Marco leaned against Jean and hugged him. Jean tilted his head like he always did when he was confused, little "haa?" somewhere deep in the back of his throat. He was confused and the way Marco was behaving didn't help him.  
　  
"Jean... I'm not feeling so good. I don't know but lately there's been something weird going on..." Jean wanted to say something stupid and sarcastic like 'oh you don't say? It's just an normal day in Ishimura with all those monsters... nothing weird!' but he knew he shouldn't. If it was Eren or someone else, he might have said something like that but now he couldn't because it was Marco of all people.  
　  
"You're not feeling physically good or is it something else?" Jean asked instead. Marco's eyes were soon again on him, staring at his eyes. Marco looked extremely... tired? Tired, yes, it was adjective what described his expression at the moment. Somehow it felt strange, because all Marco had done after they had found him was sleep. He had slept when they had moved back to the Flight Deck in tram, he had slept in the flight lounge. He still looked tired.  
　  
Marco pressed himself closer to Jean and soon his mouth was next to Jean's ear. He whispered. "I don't know... there's just something I want to say so badly. _It feels like I'm going mad if I can't say it, it feels like it's tearing me apart from the inside._ "  
　  
"Marco, what is wrong?" Jean's voice was weak. He was scared, he wasn't sure what the other man was talking about. "What do you want to say so badly? Tell me. I'll listen."  
　  
Marco was silent. He didn't care even though he could feel how others were staring at his back sometimes. Well mostly Reiner, Bertholdt and Eren thought Jean and Marco were just cuddling, so they didn't really pay attention to them, but Annie on the other hand looked pretty interested.  
　  
"I just feel like I have to say this..."

"Well what is stopping you? You can say it, I'm listening."

"Jean..."

"What is it, Marco?"

" _Make us whole_ "

"What?"

" _Make us whole again_ "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me and my beta-reader found out again how funny English grammar is. Oh god you have no idea how we giggled while we tried to fix things and typos. The one what we especially found funny was "had had was."  
> Oh well anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and the flashback! Next chapter will have more action and we might see another new character, yay!
> 
> Btw, if you wonder what P.C.S.I. Security means, it means The Planet Cracker Starship Ishimura Security.
> 
> Well that's it, I hope we see again in the next chapter! ^-^  
> Thank you for your patience and feedback is always very welcomed. If you find stupid typos or something else, tell me and I'll fix it. See you guys soon! *smooches* ~ ♥
> 
> Pst, if you want to contact me or want to talk with me, feel free to do it so in tumblr, I'm always in mood to talk with others ~  
> http://suspiciouslandlady.tumblr.com/


	9. Environmental problems

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "It's completely polluted. There's still something polluting it even more and it would help the situation if the source was removed, but there's nothing to do for the East Tower. It's finished."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyy everyone, long time no see!  
> I'm sorry this chapter is a little bit late. It's been busy times for my beta, so she didn't have any time to check this one quickly. But it's okay, people are busy time to time.
> 
> So, because this chapter is late, I decided to link you couple of pics again. Yaaay ~  
> I think you might be interested about what Bertholdt, Marco and Annie are wearing, right? Well, I'll show it to you now.
> 
> Annie is wearing heavier version of the security suit. There's two kind of suits actually. Before the fall of Ishimura, Annie wore lighter version of security suit. It was just greyish t-shirt, brown trousers and black armor vest. After the monsters started to attack, she changed her suit to heavier version of security suit which also has a helmet. Oh and if you wonder, yes, Reiner, Eren and Levi also wear [this](http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/deadspace/images/7/75/Spraw_security_suit.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130213032115) kind of suits as well. 
> 
> Bertholdt and Marco aren't wearing heavy armors or anything like that. They're really outnumbered when they're facing the monsters. Their suits are lacking things like helmets because they didn't need them at the Medical Deck. Their RIGs are also typical civilian RIGs. Their suits are the same as the suit the man on the right has in [This picture](http://www.visualwalkthroughs.com/deadspace/endofdays/19.jpg)
> 
>  
> 
> Well, I think that's all of it now ^_^ Enjoy ~

Jean had cupped Marco's face in his hands. He was staring at his brown eyes silently and studying his facial expressions. Marco was looking straight back into his golden eyes and there was a tiny grin before his face turned back to looking worried. "J-jean?" Marco's voice was trembling, he started to look scared.

"Marco, what was that supposed to mean?" Jean asked softly. He was confused as hell. Make us whole? What did that even mean? By the look on Marco's face, he wasn't sure either and it made Jean feel more confused than he had ever been. He was also getting more worried about Marco's health. Was he okay? He must get him out of here. He hoped that there was some kind of way to get everyone out of the USG Ishimura. The whole ship must be destroyed.  
　　  
"I'm sorry", Marco apologized. "About what?" Jean asked immediately. Marco kept staring at his eyes. Jean noticed Marco's eyes were lacking the zest for life. They looked so dead and cold like Annie's eyes had looked before. "About what I said. I don't know what's wrong with me, I just... felt like I had to say that."  
　  
Jean pressed a quick and soft kiss to Marco's lips. "It's okay, don't worry about it. I love you, you hear me? It doesn't matter if you say silly things. Just tell me if you don't feel well." Marco smiled and nodded. Jean was showing his gentle side again, Marco loved his gentleness. Jean was usually just grumpy and liked to complain about things but he wasn't as grumpy as everyone would assume all the time. Jean was very caring and sweet. He just didn't want to show it to just anybody.  
　　  
They sat down and relaxed as much as they could. To everyone's surprise, Eren had actually moved to sit down next to Annie and they were talking. Eren was talkative and showing his curiosity like always. Annie wasn't as social but she wanted to be polite and answered when Eren asked something and sometimes she gave her comments and opinions to something Eren had told her. The sight made Jean feel somehow happy. It was nice to see that Eren wasn't just bitching at Annie, he was finally showing that he wasn't an asshole after all.  
　  
Both Reiner and Bertholdt were taking a nap. They had curled against each other and were sleeping peacefully. The atmosphere in the room was quite lovely and it made them forget the monsters for a while. Everyone was relaxing, gathering energy for the upcoming events and just feeling safe. They had already forgotten how it actually felt when you really were safe and there was nothing bad in the world.  
　  
At some point Levi finally called them. This time Levi's call wasn't pleasant, no, it dropped the bomb and destroyed the feel of safety. "I need you all to come to the Hydroponics Deck." His voice sounded worried and it was odd to hear that tone in his usually calm voice. Whatever news he had, they must be pretty bad. There's no other reason why he would sound like that.

Levi didn't explain anything. He just simply ended the call after they had promised to move to the Hydroponics Deck. Before they started to move to the tram station, Annie mentioned that there was a security room close by. They should get weapons, they would need them if they wanted to stay alive. Everyone agreed and when they left the break room, Annie guided their group to the security room.  
　  
The room was locked but it wasn't a problem. Jean was getting good at hacking the Ishimura's door lock systems and it didn't take long until they were inside the room. They gathered more guns and ammos, but it didn't satisfy them. The guns needed a lot of ammos to kill those monsters. They could use some mining tools, the tools were strong and if they were able to cut ores and other materials, why not the monsters? Like, Ripper was very powerful saw tool and it cut basically everything.  
　  
They decided to grab couple of mining tools as well. After that the group moved hastily to the other tram what was waiting them on the tram station. It was lucky that they had Annie with them, she knew the places well and she was a great help. She was good at guiding them. It was true that Bertholdt and Marco knew Ishimura as well but they just weren't at the same wavelength like Annie was. Annie was calm, she had to be. She was taught to be that way.

Tram was soon moving toward to the Hydroponics Deck. It was located at the highest level on the ship and it was also one of the most important ones. Eren and Jean were pretty curious about it. Bertholdt and Marco decided to explain them about it, they had time and it seemed to relax both of them.  
　  
The Hydroponics Deck was the Ishimura's internal farm. It was the place where they grow all of their vegetables and other food they could grow there. In vitro meat wasn't produced there, it was produced in one of the Ishimura's labs. The Hydroponics Deck didn't only produce food, it also produced all of the oxygen they needed in Ishimura. There was mostly greenhouses for the food and grow chambers for the plants to produce the oxygen. They also learned that the food storage was at the same deck.  
　  
When the tram finally stopped at the right station, Levi was waiting them there with Connie and Sasha. It was good to see them but they didn't look as good as they had thought. Connie was in a bad shape, something had hurt his forehead and left arm. By the look of the scene, it seemed that he had protected Sasha. Sasha had curled up tightly against Connie's right arm and she looked like she had cried.  
　  
"Are you hurt badly?" Bertholdt asked after he got closer. "I'm okay, it's just a scratch", Connie answered but the tall man wasn't going to let him get away with that answer. Bertholdt was almost forcing Connie to let him check his wounds. Connie didn't protest long though and when he finally gave up, Bert seemed to be happy when he got chance to make sure Connie was okay. The wounds looked nasty but Bertholdt checked them very precisely. "You're gonna be okay. We should clean them and bind them but unfortunately I don't have anything with me."  
　  
Sasha was very relieved after hearing it. She managed to smile and looked at Connie who smiled back to her. To be honest, everyone agreed that they looked cute together. Levi didn't let them have anymore cuddly moments after that because he had bad news. His facial expression was already telling that they were going to hear something really bad.  
　  
"So... Why are we here?" Eren asked and looked Levi. The short man was standing there with arms akimbo and studying everyone's faces before he finally dropped the bomb.

"So, we went to the Bridge. The main computer was fucking with us, but it informed about the damage in this deck. I bet you all know how important this deck is? Well, the situation here is now turning pretty bad. Not only because the whole food storage is corrupted but because something is damaging the system that produces oxygen. If we decide to do nothing about it, this ship will be lacking oxygen. It will disappear completely if we don't try to fix this problem. I know USG Kellion's crew have air cans but I don't know about you three. I don't know if your suits have them. If they don't, you will die by the lack of oxygen."  
　  
Everyone was standing there silently, just watching Levi as he finally finished his speech. They had guessed right about the problem being serious but this. This was far more worse than they had thought. Levi's words felt ugly but they still were the painful truth. It was true, if the oxygen in the ship disappeared, Marco and Bertholdt would be the first ones to die by the lack of oxygen. Their nurse suits didn't have places for air cans like engineers or security staff had. Nurses were supposed to work inside the ship so they didn't need a place for the air cans. They were lacking the helmets as well.  
　  
The fact that they knew that too well made Marco and Bertholdt go pale. Others had chance to survive far longer if the oxygen production fails and the ship starts to lack air but the two nurses would die pretty soon after the system fail. Marco pressed his other hand on his face and he sure looked a lot paler than his friend was. His freckles were almost highlighted.  
　  
"Well what are we waiting for?" Jean asked but he noticed how Sasha and Connie's faces turned more horrified. Okay, so that wasn't the only thing what was bad here. There was something else, because if there wasn't, their expressions wouldn't turn that bad. "Oh god, there's something more as well?" the blond man asked. Connie and Sasha nodded and Levi sighed.  
　  
"Something seems to pollute the air too. If you want to go deeper, you need to wear helmets. We don't know what the pollution will cause if you breathe it, but we know it's pretty powerful and it indeed is destroying Ishimura's breathing air." Jean snorted and shook his head.

"You gotta be kidding..."

"Sorry, I'm dead serious."  
　  
They couldn't just leave Marco and Bertholdt alone to the tram station. There was always a chance that while they were deeper in the deck, something could show up at the tram station.  
　  
Levi was the first one who switched the helmet back onto covering his head. "I don't want to argue with anyone. Not right now. I don't care if you choose to come with us without helmets, but I thought you should know about the risks. We can fight with the monsters but we can't protect you from the pollution." Levi watched the two nurses until he turned his back to the group and took a glance of the empty corridor what was waiting.  
　  
Everyone followed his example and turned their helmets back to their heads. Even Annie had a helmet, but it was to be expected because she had security suit after all. Both Marco and Bertholdt didn't waste any time to think about the problem. They just announced that they will run a risk and go deeper to the deck, even knowing that it would damage their bodies.  
　  
One idea was that someone would stay with them at the tram while the others would try to fix this deck's problems, but no one actually wanted to split up again. Not now when all of them were finally together as the same group.  
　  
While they were walking in the big corridor, they tried to think how this problem would be fixed. At first they should try to get the details about the whole deck and every single problem there was. Also it was good idea to try search the source of the pollution. If it was destroyable, there was a chance to get rid of it completely.  
　  
The deeper they got to the deck, the more changes the corridors had. At first the corridors looked exactly like all the others. Then slowly they started to change more looking like they were walking inside the greenhouse. The walls were some kind of glass walls and on the other side there was growing sprouts. There was a lot of different plants like tomatoes, pumpkins and watermelons. There was also a lot of different doors along the way. Some of them led to the greenhouses, some of them to the towers where the air was produced.

When they arrived to the sapling room, Marco and Bertholdt covered their noses. "It smells here. Smells like rotten or something, I don't know. It isn't any scent I've smelled before. It stinks", Bertholdt described and coughed.  
　  
"It must be the pollution. I think nothing here is edible anymore. The plants looks like they're ok but it's better that we don't risk ourselves. The pollution might have affected the feeding system", Annie told what she thought. It was good that she had a chance to hide behind the helmet, because everyone was looking at her like there was another head growing at her shoulder. She knew so much about everything, she was like a guide. After all, she had worked for the security and maybe she had visited every deck. Was there a lot of problems in the Ishimura or did they have daily checking?  
　  
The sapling room had a door what led to the atmosphere control. The Atmosphere Control room was pretty large room. There was another of those shops Jean had seen at the Medical Deck but there was also a nice amount of tiny greenhouses with glass walls. Most of the plants there were watermelons and pumpkins. In the middle of the room was the main air quality control. As they had expected, the big hologram screen had red background. Usually hologram screen's background was white, but when the system was informing the problems, the color changed to the red.

'Danger, Danger' was flashing on the screen. Jean rushed to the computer and tried to get information about the problem. Air purity level was dropping to alarmingly low.  
　  
"There's nothing left at the East tower", Jean managed to say. "It's completely polluted. There's still something polluting it even more and it would help the situation if the source was removed, but there's nothing to do for the East Tower. It's finished."  
　  
Levi was now standing next to Jean and staring at the hologram screen. "What about the others?" He asked. "The West Tower seems to still work but there's also something polluting the air. If we don't do something, it will fall like the East. We gotta do something quickly. If both of the towers fall, the oxygen product will be gone and the air's going to disappear after that. Those two towers seems to be the main air producers", Jean told him. Levi nodded as an answer and tried to think how they should handle this.  
　  
"Alright, since you two don't have helmets, it's better if you stay here. Besides it's better if someone checks the air purity level time to time. We should clean the West tower first." Levi announced and everyone agreed with him. They decided that Reiner should stay with the nurses. It looked like Levi was thinking about leaving Annie with them also, but he rejected the idea immediately. Annie seemed to know a lot of this whole ship, they could use her knowledge.  
　  
"If there's more dramatical drops or some other big changes, contact us immediately. Do not hesitate", Levi said and headed to the door which was entrance to the West tower. The big group followed him. At the door Jean took his last glances of Marco before he stepped to the corridor and walked behind Levi. Annie was walking next to the short man, Levi wanted her to guide them while they were here and Annie was okay with it.  
　  
All of them were loaded into the elevator. It wasn't very pleasant experience, there wasn't enough room for them but somehow they managed to fit there. When the elevator's doors opened, it felt like miracle had happened.  
　  
They walked into a short corridor and opened the door to the grow chamber. The Grow chamber was very large room filled with round tube-like things where green plants were growing. The tube-like things reached high and probably touched the ceiling too.  
　  
It looked more like the room was filled with pillars where the plants grow. In the middle of the room there was growing tomatoes and other vegetables inside the glass walls. There was also another elevator which led them to the upper levels.

The metallic floor had bloody traces here and there, obviously there had been a conflict between the monsters and humans. And by the look of the traces and lack of any individual they were able to guess who had won the battle. Even though it was supposed to be creepy or scary, the grow chamber had relaxing effect.  
　  
Well, it was somehow relaxing until unknown coughs echoed on the room. "Oh great, I think there's some kind of company waiting us. Check the whole area and be careful", Levi said and started to wander around the big area.  
　  
They split up but made sure they were still closer to at least one of them. Connie and Sasha followed Levi and it was good that way, Levi was skilled and he had saved them before already. They trusted him. Jean decided to stay closer to Annie and Eren.  
　  
They heard coughs again and this time they were able to find the direction where they were coming. It was above them, maybe on the second or at the third level. Eren and Jean lifted their gazes to up and searched the source. "It's somewhere close, I can tell", Eren said and when no one answered, he took a glance of his company. Jean was still looking at the ceiling but Annie had already headed to the elevator. "Hey, wait us", Eren hissed and went right after Annie. Jean glared at them before he finally half-ran after them.

Elevator stopped at the second level. When the doors opened and the trio was standing at the metallic bridge, they noticed a body lying at the left side of the level. Eren and Annie took slowly steps toward the body and they both pointed their guns toward it. When they got closer, they noticed that the the body was actually still alive. Its chest was still rising and falling.

"Hey, are you alright?" Eren asked. The person had hidden their face under their hands but their clothes revealed that either they had worked at the Medical Deck or at the Hydroponics Deck. It was hard to tell because both decks' workers wore almost identical workwear. Annie was examining the form on the ground, she might have an idea that the person was a worker at the Hydroponics Deck. It was logical idea but they couldn't be sure.  
　  
Annie took couple steps closer to the person and then she squatted next to them. She placed her hand carefully to the person's blond hair. Her touch seemed to relax them, because the person finally started to pay attention. "It's alright _Armin_." Annie's voice was soft and warm, but the name she said made both Eren and Jean wince.  
　  
"Armin?!" Eren's voice was more high-pitched than usually. The person next to Annie finally sat up and turned their head in Jean and Eren's direction. "Holy shit, it's Armin." No fucking way, it was Armin Arlert.  
"What the hell is happening here?" Eren managed to say and walked closer to Annie and Armin. He wanted to make sure that it was really Armin, that his mind wasn't fucking with him right now. It wasn't time to be imagining things.  
　  
Jean stayed still and listened to the voices around him. He heard subdued wheezing above them. What the hell was it? Armin coughed again and tried to say something, but he wasn't able to say anything. He just pointed to the third level and coughed. Annie and Jean lifted their gazes to the next level before they both headed back to the elevator.

At the third level all what waited them was mess. The metallic bridge's floor was messed with blood and slime, but at the same time the wheezing was getting louder.  
　  
They found the source of it almost right after stepping out of the elevator. At the end of the left side there was a human-shaped thing sitting alone. It wheezed and coughed. When it coughed, there was strange dirty looking gas coming out of its mouth. The creature didn't care when they got closer, it just coughed. Strange looking saggy and fleshy bags were hanging on its back. Annie and Jean realized soon that it looked like it had lungs on its back. Shitty way to die indeed. At first die by the hand of the monster and then turn into one of them while your lungs probably changed their place from the chest to the back. It was nasty and both of them felt bad for the thing. Poor bastard.

It didn't fight, it didn't even care if they stood right next to it. It was coughing and they guessed that it was its way to pollute the air. Jean was going to shoot the poor bastard, but Annie stopped him and shook her head. "Why should you waste your bullets to it?" she asked and then she suddenly lifted her leg and stomped the monster's back. She kicked and stomped until the monster let a sad whimper and died.

"What the hell was that?" Jean asked after Annie was looking him. "I saved our ammos", she said somehow proudly. "I don't fucking care, that was still pretty unnecessarily. It didn't try to attack or anything", Jean said. He winced when he saw how Annie's eyes turned colder than they had been before. "Don't empathize or sympathize with it. It wasn't human, it was a monster. It's polluting the air, we can't help them. They're gone, dead. Only thing what's left from those souls are their bodies which are now hosts for those alien things. The people they were before are already gone. Even if it didn't attack, it doesn't mean it's not evil. You want that this tower falls as well?" Annie lectured.  
　  
Jean couldn't say anything so he just bite his lip and turned back to the elevator's way. He didn't want to argue with Annie and after all she was saying the truth. It was just surprising that Annie killed it that brutally. It would have been easier to just shoot it. But Annie was right, they needed to save their ammos. Those creatures didn't seem to be as bad as the others they had seen before.  
　  
After moving back to the second level Jean and Annie picked Eren and Armin to the elevator. When they were at the first level, Levi's group joined them again. "What the... Armin? Is it you?" Connie asked after noticing a new face among them. Eren supported Armin who was holding rather large cylindrical capsule. The capsule was full of some kind of liquid, they couldn't tell what it was but it seemed to be pretty important by the way Armin held it like his life depends on it.  
　  
"Armin why are you here? I thought you were working on another spaceship", Eren asked and looked Armin. Poor Armin didn't see anyone's face because the helmets were covering them, but he recognized their voices. "Sorry... I just got here one month ago, it seemed to be something very serious because I didn't have any time to told more details to anyone. They needed more horticulturists..." he answered. His voice sounded awful, it wasn't like his normal voice. Sounded more like his throat was dry and sore.

"I should have guessed..." Eren snorted. He sounded angry but at the same time he had very concerned tone on his voice. "What do you have in that capsule?" Levi asked. Armin winced and then he relaxed and his gaze fall to the capsule. "It's a combination of different chemicals. I've been working on it, it was supposed to overpower _it_ ", Armin answered and he was glancing the room. "It?" Annie asked curiously.  
　  
"Hey hey, wait a second. Here's something? What is it?" Jean asked and stared Armin. What was here? Annie suddenly looked like she remembered something. "You mean... _it is real_? I thought everyone was just joking about it." Armin turned to look Annie and nodded. "It _is_ real. And it is _a big problem._ "  
　  
"I can't stand any secrets at the moment. If you two know something about this, be my guests and share it with us. Otherwise I might look you as enemies." It was good that Levi's helmet was hiding his face. He probably had very scary expression while he was looking at Annie and Armin, waiting them to share whatever they knew.

"Please Armin! Don't hide anything, tell the truth", Sasha whined and Connie of course was supporting her. "Yeah, tell us! We have all rights to know."

Armin covered his mouth and coughed again. His coughs didn't sound as bad as they were on the second level. The air on the first level was cleaner, so the polluted air didn't affect him as badly as it had before.  
　  
"We're talking about _the Leviathan_..." Annie finally answered. She and Armin got very questioning gazes. "The Leviathan? What the hell is it?" Eren asked. Their gazes fell onto Armin, because he seemed to know more than Annie. He sighed and ran his other hand on his hair.  
　  
"I don't really know where it came from but just before those things started to take over this ship, we noticed that the East tower started to get some kind of strange pollution. Source of it was unknown and we tried to figure out what was going on. The East tower's air level started to drop little by little and all of the plants there were dying. Half of us went to the tower and searched the source of it or any kind of logical reason why something like that was happening there." Armin took a small break because he coughed again.  
　  
"During the research on the East tower, we got informed that something was growing in the main food storage. Whatever it was, it was getting bigger and destroying edible food. I wasn't there but what I heard about it, there was some kind of alien life form growing. After the discover, we immediately started to work on with this." Armin took a glance of capsule he was holding before he continued again. "I had to run between this deck and the Medical Deck. Me and couple of my colleagues worked hard with this. One of their audio logs went missing but I guess someone found it and after hearing about the Leviathan, gossips started to spread."  
　  
"Did you managed to complete it?" Levi asked. Armin nodded shyly and sighed again. "Yes. After we got back to this deck, this hell took command on this ship. I guess we were the last ones who travelled safely back from the Medical Deck before it became the real hell. We were late though. The Leviathan had grown larger and when my co-workers tried to fight against it, it killed all of them. We didn't get any chances to set this capsule and let it work against the Leviathan, because there was monsters chasing us and then there were also monsters which are now polluting the whole deck. I've been hiding since then and trying to protect this, but after the pollution started to smell so badly, I tried to get back and set this. It's just that the bad air is too much.... Even now I'm not feeling good."  
　  
All of them stayed silent and just thought about everything Armin had told them. It sounded very unbelievable but they got hints that Armin wasn't joking. He was telling them what he knew, telling them the truth. "We need to get you out of here, somewhere with clearer air before the pollution destroys you from the inside. Where is this supposed to go?" Eren asked and pointed the capsule. "Well, I don't know if it works well, it is supposed to kill the Leviathan by poisoning it. I need to take it to the Air Filtration room but the pollution and the monsters are keeping me here", Armin answered quickly.  
　  
"Armin, we need you to get the hell outta of here. We can go deeper than you, we have helmets and suits protecting us from the pollution. Besides it would be good if Bertholdt checks you, just in case that there's something wrong."

"Bertholdt's alive?" Armin's voice was high-pitched now and he looked at them like he couldn't believe it. "Yes Armin, he's alive. Marco and Reiner are waiting us at the Atmosphere control room because Bertholdt and Marco doesn't have suits that can protect them from the pollution." Eren stayed close to Armin and it was calming for both of them. Eren tried to sound like he wasn't getting annoyed, but it was sure that if this same situation continued, he would snap sooner or later.  
　  
"Eren, you should take him back to others. Stay with them, Reiner can't protect all of them if something comes up. We can take the poison and set it to the Air Filtration room." Levi didn't suggested, he commanded. Armin handed the capsule to Jean. "Be extra careful with it, okay? I don't have another. We just made one portion", he begged and Jean just nodded, taking better hold of the object. "I promise. Nothing's gonna break it, not on my watch." Eren burst out laughing and it made Jean growl.

"Shut up Jäeger, now it's not the time to laugh your ass off. Take Armin and get lost."  
　  
"Yeah yeah, I'll make sure he's going to join with the others. Take care.... and Jean."  
　  
"What is it, Eren?"  
　  
"Don't drop it or break it."  
　  
"Get lost!"  
　  
Jean was growling even after Eren and Armin were out of his sight. Sasha and Connie tried to calm him down and while they did that, Annie told Levi about the monster they had seen and killed after Armin was found. "It seems that they are polluting the air as well. We better not use our guns against them, it would be such an waste of our resources. We can stomp them to death and they don't even try to attack us. They are very weak." Levi nodded and said that they should check all the greenhouses for what was there.  
　  
One after another they checked the tiny inner greenhouses. Inner greenhouses just looked more like supply rooms, there wasn't any plants inside them. Just a lot of different looking metal pipes on the walls and some boxes which contained stuff they needed for horticulture.  
　  
All of the inner greenhouses were conquered by the wheezing monsters. Annie and Levi took care of the monsters but couple of times Sasha and Connie got courage and they also killed the wheezing monsters. Jean stayed aside, holding the capsule and examining the rooms.  
　  
After they returned back to the grow chamber, loud roars filled the room. Three slashers crawled from the air conditioning ducts and they had also one very large comrade with them. None of them had any idea where the new kind of monster came from, it was simply too large to come from the air conditioning ducts, so it must have been hiding somewhere in the grow chamber.  
　  
This new kind of monster was far different looking than the slashers. It was larger. A lot larger. While the slasher were pretty skinny, this one looked like it was either just fat or pregnant. It had huge sac that just extrude from its abdominal area. It didn't have extra pair of hands like slashers but this thing's hands were more mutated. It didn't technically have real hands where the blade-like things came from. It had long arms but somewhere around the wrist started to come out really big blades. Its jaw was missing and it also had shorter legs and the way this thing was moving was slow. When it started to run though, it proved that it can be as fast as the other monsters.  
　  
Levi and Annie were shooting them now. Levi had noticed that if they shot their legs, the monsters were moving more slowly or crawling after their legs were too damaged. It paid more time to kill them.  
　  
To Jean, the biggest surprise was probably the fact that Sasha and Connie didn't petrify, they started to fight as well. Annie and the others had took different kind of guns earlier and they had given the gun type called 'Pulse rifle' to both Sasha and Connie. It was a big gun, it had three different pipes that shoot the bullets and it did easily more damage, faster than the guns Levi and Annie were using. It was probably the best idea to give this easier-to-use gun to the engineers.  
　  
Slashers died easily, but the large, pregnant-looking monster was tougher. Someone shot it to the belly and it ripped open. The large monster died soon after it, but something crawled out of its stomach.  
　  
Tiny strange looking creatures started to head toward the group. They didn't actually know what they were, because the things looked just like tiny bits of flesh or something. They moved pretty fast even though they were ridiculously small.

Shooting at them was the best idea when they had to think about how they should destroy those small fleshy creatures. It ended up being such an waste of ammos, they couldn't shoot all of them at the same time and half of them got very close.  
　  
Sasha and Annie stomped them, but after getting close, the small creatures just jumped and cling to hands or foot. Shortly after that, both of them felt burning sensations. Sasha let painful cry and after that she shook herself. Annie tried to rip them off but when it didn't help at all, she shook her body as well.  
　  
The creatures bit through their suits, but they didn't really destroy the fabric. Shaking made them let go and when they fell off, they got stomped hardly. Connie was helping Sasha by stomping the creatures and getting them off of her.  
　  
After the last one of the tiny monsters were dead, they decided to move quickly before more monsters had chance to show up.  
　  
"Are you okay?" Connie asked and looked at Sasha after the group had moved to an empty corridor and were walking toward the Air Filtration room. Sasha smiled a little bit and nodded. "Yes... Those things were biting or something.... it felt like they tried to burn my skin." Connie took Sasha's hand and promised to protect her next time when those little things decided to show up.  
　  
Jean was walking behind them. He was glancing the corridor, trying not to stare the couple in front of him. It wasn't his business, he knew there was strong bond between Sasha and Connie and it wasn't surprise that they had ended up being together. Hell, everyone had waited for it to happen, like, years until they finally had announced the good news. They were indeed pretty sweet couple. It was sad that they were now stuck here on the spaceship, full of monsters what were ready to kill them and... taking their bodies...  
　  
Something soon connected in Jean's mind. What the hell, it made sense now. While he had been passed out, he had seen a dream where Marco had told him that something wanted their bodies. Even the video log had told them that suicidal people were usually saying shit like that before they had committed suicides on the Ishimura.

Even though the picture was getting clearer, it also made everything look more scarier than it was been before. "Holy shit...." Jean murmured to himself.  
　  
When he finally lifted his gaze again from the floor and looked around, he noticed that the walls were again messed up with texts and symbols. 'Don't trust them', 'We're doomed', 'They want our bodies!'  
　  
Suddenly Jean stopped and stared at the symbols on the wall. He didn't know what they meant, all he knew that it was just unitology writing. It looked like a message, but he wasn't able to read and understand it. Somehow it just stopped him, he felt like something was trying to call him.  
　  
" _Jean... where are you going? You can't run from me forever_ "  
　  
Jean moved closer to the wall. He bite his lower lip, reaching his hand and pressing it against the wall. Against the painted symbols.  
　  
" _It's not over between us_ "  
　  
When he felt hand on his shoulder, he winced and hopped aside. Jean was glad that he didn't drop the capsule. He turned his head and found that Annie was standing beside him, staring at him behind her helmet. "You shouldn't fall behind", she said. Jean soon realized that the rest of their group was standing further them. Levi was standing there with arms akimbo, his other feet stamping silently the floor.  
　  
"Sorry... I thought I heard something", Jean said and started to walk, but Annie suddenly stopped him. "Wait... did you hear something?" she asked. Jean wasn't sure should he tell anyone about those strange whispers, but he guessed he didn't have a choice.

"Well, I'm not sure if my mind just tricked me but I think I heard some kind of whispers? Or something? I don't know what it was."

Annie didn't say anything. She was staring Jean, even though Jean didn't see her eyes behind her helmet, he was sure that Annie probably had very curious expression. She was so curious about everything.  
　  
"Jean, _what did the symbols whisper?_ "  
　  
"What?"  
　  
" _What did the symbols whisper?_ " she asked again. Jean tilted his head. "Ha? What do you mean?"  
　  
Annie let go and took a glance of the symbols on the wall. Then she turned her head back to Jean, staring at him again. "You hear them, don't you? The whispers. I knew it after you yelled to us in the break room. You hear them too."  
　  
Jean was slightly scared about the subject. "What the hell are you talking about? Wait, I mean.... have you heard them?" Annie was silent, but then she nodded. "I have. Jean, it's the symbols, I think. The symbols are whispering to us. They are whispering something we can't understand, _yet_. It feels like they're warnings or something from the dead members. What did the symbols whisper to you?" she asked.  
　  
"I don't think they're warnings. They're something, but it feels like my mind is just messing with me." Jean couldn't actually believe that he was having this conversation with Annie. She stood there like a stone, until she just then sighed and turned around. "I believe they're warnings. Believe or not, I think everyone can hear them. Whatever they are telling you, keep listening them. They can be bad omens as well." She moved back to Levi and others. Jean was standing there like a fool, looking at her back until he finally moved.  
　  
Before he headed back to the group, he took the last glance of the symbols on the wall. Annie's voice was echoing on his head. _What did the symbols whisper?_ Jean shook his head and snorted. _You hear them too, don't you?_ He touched the wall and stared the symbols. _They are whispering something we can't understand, yet._

"Hurry up, we don't have time for whatever you're doing right now." Levi's voice woke up him from his thoughts. Jean headed back to the group and took a better hold on the capsule. _You can't run from me forever._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are again.  
> So, what did you think? Poor Armin, must've been nasty place to be. I myself found this chapter pretty interesting and I'm excited to write the next one. I haven't started working with it yet, but I'll very soon start writing!
> 
> I have to announce right now that I'm going to work the whole May in my summer job, so it might interrupt my writing speed. I hope we can still get one chapter per week, but if that gets too hard for me, it will be one chapter per two weeks. Let's hope I can stay with this "one chapter per week" procedure ~ 
> 
> See you soon! I love you and thank you for reading this chapter ~  
> Feedback is always very welcomed, let me know what did you think about this chapter. If you find typos or something, feel free to point them out.  
> If you wish to have more pics or something, you can ask them too ^-^


	10. The Leviathan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "THAT is the Leviathan?!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey sweethearts, here we are again! ^-^  
> This chapter was pain in the ass but it's the longest chapter so far and it took a lot of time to get finished. Lot of cursing in the middle of the night, trying to drive my tired mind nuts.  
> This chapter is the first sight to the upcoming darker turn to this story, so this is full of nasty things. I hope I'm not going to scare you off.
> 
> **This chapter contains VOMITING and CHARACTER DEATH. There's also GOREISH DESCRIPTION**

Their way to the Air filtration room wasn't as easy as they had assumed. The Hydroponics Control room was out of order. There were dead bodies lying on the floor and the air inside the room wasn't clean enough to breathe so the whole group had to use their oxygen supplies. They were trying to save their air cans but because the room was lacking breathable air, there wasn't any other choice but to use them.

The corridors were bloody and messy. That made Levi angry, everyone knew how he hated dirty places and these corridors didn't help him. He was getting grumpier and it was the reason why no one really wanted to say anything. It wasn't only Levi who was making the atmosphere tense. Jean wasn't happy either and he was avoiding contact with Annie, the conversation about the whispers made him stiff and he didn't want to think about them.

The monsters were clearly hiding, because every time it felt like everything was alright, a monster or two came out of nowhere and scared them. They were getting more tired than ever and the hope of getting out of here was cracking.

Somehow they made it to the Air Filtration room and when they finally fed the poison to the filtration system, they were sure everything was going to get better. Or so they thought. After they had started to return, loud and surly roar echoed on the walls of the corridors. Whatever was the source of it, it was clearly pissed off.

"What the hell was that?" Jean finally asked. He was walking behind the group, but now he sped up his footsteps and catch up with the team. He didn't want to be left behind, he was sure Levi would left him because he was already angry enough.

"I don't know. Whatever it was, I don't like the way it roared. Seemed to be very angry", Connie answered. Sasha was clearly thinking something, she was unusually silent. "I think... hmm.. to me, it sounded like scream of challenge. A challenge from the predator. It didn't sound like it was in pain, it sounded like it was in rage."

Connie and Jean glanced Sasha. She knew animals and their behavior, but if she was right with this one, they should be scared for their lives. Whatever made that sound wasn't any animal they knew. It was an unknown alien life form.

Annie wasn't saying anything but she surely was listening their conversation.

The West Grow Chamber was still the way it had been when they had left. Dead bodies of the monsters were still lying on the floor and to be honest, it was the best possible sight. The Grow Chamber was quiet, there wasn't any kind of wheezing noise or anything else. It was just all silent.

They didn't want to stay there any longer though. There was still a lot of things to do. Jean took last glances of the place before he headed to the elevator with others. He was very eager to get out of there and see how things were at the Atmosphere control.

"Guys! You did it, the air level is increasing!" Eren praised after the group arrived back to the Atmosphere control. Everything seemed to be fine there: Armin and Bertholdt were chatting and it was clear that the tall nurse was watching Armin and making sure he was alright. Reiner was leaning against one of the walls and staring at the room. Even though he looked like he was relaxing, he was keeping watch and making sure that he was ready if something decided to show up.

Jean looked around and searched for the other nurse. Indeed, where was Marco? He wasn't close to the other group. Soon Jean detected something in the back of the room. Marco was standing behind the computer and just staring at the big round door. He couldn't help but walk next to him and look at the door too. What was so interesting about it?

"Marco..." Jean said and pressed his hand to other man's shoulder. It made Marco wince, but then he turned to Jean's direction and smiled a little bit. "Hey... I see you came back... and found Armin too. You can't believe how surprised we were when Eren came back with him." Marco's voice was soft and the smile on his face was sweet and innocent. He surely was really adorable and even though he wasn't able to see Jean's face, he probably knew that Jean was smiling behind his helmet too.

"We're going to the East Tower soon. There is.... things and they are polluting the air. We saw them and they're not that dangerous, but it's better to get rid of them." Jean noticed that Marco's smile was gone after hearing that. He was looking concerned and he probably was. His gaze fell to the floor for a second until he lifted it back to Jean.

"I don't want you to go there... Is... Is it... bad? You said there's nothing to do about it." He was like a kid who was begging their parent to not leave them. Marco was stressed and anguished, he was scared.

"I know. But we have to kill the monsters that are polluting it. We can't just let all the pressure fall on the West Tower. Yes, the East Tower won't be able to product oxygen but we can't let those monsters continue whatever they are doing. We have to stop them. Don't worry, nothing's gonna happen to us. We're going to return and then leave." Jean cupped Marco's face gently between his hands. Marco's eyes widened when suddenly Jean's suit broke the helmet into pieces and collected it back inside the suit.

"Why did you took your helmet off? You're stupid, now you're exposed to the pollution", Marco said, he was surprised but at the same time he was also little bit angry to Jean. He shouldn't expose himself to the pollution.

"Like I care", Jean answered smoothly and pressed his lips against Marco's. Marco winced again and then he relaxed. The kiss was shy but at the same time it made sure that the both of them knew how they were loved. How they loved each other.

"Kirschtein, we don't have time to that. Move up your ass, we're going to the East Tower now." Levi's voice broke the kiss and the whole atmosphere. Jean growled a little bit, great way to kill the mood. "Put your helmet back on, you idiot", Marco commanded and smiled then. "Yes sir!" Jean answered right back and soon the helmet was protecting his head again.

"Good boy", Marco laughed but then the worried look came back. "Be careful, please." His gaze fell to the floor again. Jean touched his chin and lifted Marco's gaze back to him. "I'm going to be okay. I promise."

Levi said something again and Jean quickly gave a stroke to the freckled man's cheek.

At the moment they stepped inside the door that was leading them to the East Tower, everyone noticed how the whole atmosphere had changed. The East Tower was almost identical with the West Tower, the corridors weren't any different from the ones in the West.

The deeper they got, the more changes there was. After getting to the elevator, the corridors had been more and more covered in the nasty-looking slime. Jean and Annie were sure that the slime was the same kind as the slime in the Medical Deck.

Even though the helmets were covering their heads, they still were able to smell the bad scent what was on the air. It was absolutely disgusting and there were no words to describe it. It was something they had never smelled before.

The East Grow chamber was in a bad shape. All of the green plants were dead and brown. The slime was covering everything in the colossal room, including the floor. There were also bloody traces. A lot of them. It looked more like it had been once a battlefield and what Armin had told them was proof that there indeed had been fight between life and death.

No one said anything, they were trying to hear if there was any wheezing monsters close. Unfortunately there was no wheezing, but some kind of faint lamenting. It sounded more human-like, unlike anything what the monsters usually let out.

"Survivor?" Sasha whispered, it was so silent that they barely heard it. Levi didn't answer, but he gave his usual hand signals like he always did when it was better to stay quiet.

They split up, it was unusual but they wanted to find the possible survivor as fast as possible. Jean followed Sasha and Connie while Annie and Levi went to the other side of the room. Jean was holding tightly his gun and looking around. Lamenting was growing louder, but they still weren't sure, where it actually came from. From what direction it came.

Suddenly Sasha winced and let out tiny squeak. Connie and Jean headed closer to her and when they saw it, they both winced too. "Oh dear lord..."

Lamenting came from the man who was stuck in the slime-covered wall. The man was missing his lower body, his torso was connected with the red alien tissue. His naked torso was split in half from the chest, showing everything what was still inside of him. The lungs and the rib cage was missing, only red flesh and red intestine-looking things coming out. They couldn't recognize the poor man, his head was mutated and skin melted off, only bloody flesh left with two black holes where the eyes had been before. Even though it was a sure thing that there was some kind of symbiosis between the human and the alien tissue, the man was still somehow alive and in extreme pain. He was still able to say weak appeals for help with hoarse voice.

Sasha turned her head away, she didn't want to look at the sight anymore. It was too much and she wasn't feeling well. She wanted to end the poor man's misery but she couldn't. Soon she moved away and let out small sobs.

Connie took a glance of Jean before he headed to Sasha and comforted her. Jean sighed and turned his gaze back to the man. "I'm sorry this happened to you", he whispered and moved closer to it, pointing his gun to its direction. He wanted to end everything with a single shot, so the closer he was, the better effect the gun had.

After getting next to the man, the poor thing lifted its head and turned it toward Jean. "Help..." the weak voice begged.

The sharp pain spread through Jean's abdomen and he wasn't even sure, why. Soon he noticed that the thing had hit him with one of those intestine-looking things, straight to his stomach and flung him farther. It hurt, it really hurt but he wasn't bleeding.

"Sasha look out!" Connie's frightened voice echoed and then loud roars filled the whole room. Jean quickly got back up on his feet and tried to figure out what was going on.

Slashers, there was slashers almost in every direction. Gunshots echoed with the roars, Annie and Levi were probably already killing those things. Jean noticed soon that Sasha was now next to him and she was shooting furiously little group of slashers what were trying to get closer. Jean helped her and shot too, even though he really didn't have any idea what to do. His thoughts were still little mixed-up. Sasha had surely seen it, because she was at first protecting Jean. Maybe she had seen how the thing on the wall had hit him hard.

"You ok? It looked like a nasty punch", Sasha asked and took a glance of Jean before she turned her head back toward the slashers. "Yeah, I think I just got confused", he answered and looked around. Jean shot the thing on the wall until it was dead. Then he turned back to shoot slashers, the ones that were left. Sasha had made excellent job.

There weren't only roars anymore, there was also new voice echoing on the room. It was strange, it sounded more like something was growling and sloshing.

"Levi! Annie! Are you--" Jean tried to shout, but when he turned his head to right, he saw Connie. Connie was shooting couple of slashers that were coming toward him, but behind him was standing monster they had never seen before. "Connie behind you!" Jean screamed and he was soon running toward his friend, when sudden weight dropped on top of him and pushed over.

He squirmed and tried to get off the thing what was sitting on his back. It was a monster, he knew it, but it was so damn heavy he had hard time to get it off.

Somehow he managed to get the monster off of his back and shoot it. He shoot it many times, until it was dead and he was out of ammo. When he turned his head back to Connie's direction, it was like everything had turned to slow-motion.

The monster was thickset and it looked stronger than the slashers. Its hand were deformed but it had long claws that looked a little bit like big fingers. It didn't have eyes because there was only two black holes on its face. Its torso was heavily smelted, the lungs clearly visible to everyone. Its jaw had fused with its neck and the only look it had was hollow, blank stare. Something had smelted the skin on its torso and internal organs like intestines were as visible as its lungs. The lungs, however, were yellow. It had two legs which were normal human's legs but there was also third one coming from it's hip and the third one was made of necrotic flesh.

This thing was the source of the new growling voices.

Jean watched in horror, unable to move, as the monster grabbed Connie with its claws, turned him face-to-face with it and then the sloshy noises started again. The thing... the fucking thing was at the same time strangling Connie and vomiting all over him. Connie's weak voice was still recognizable through the other voices.

Jean stood up and moved closer, but the slasher that was wandering around Connie and the other monster, waiting for its turn, sprint toward Jean and tried to bite him. While Jean was fighting with the slasher, something bumped to the metallic floor. Connie's helmet.

Slasher what was making Jean busy, was soon kicked off of him. Annie was standing in front of Jean and shooting the slasher what was on the floor now.

"Connie!" Sasha's voice was heartbreaking, she was trying to get closer but the slashers made sure they couldn't get closer. Even Levi was trying to get closer, but he couldn't. He was stuck with the other monsters.

"We have to help Connie! I'm out of ammo, Annie please help him!" Jean begged and turned his gaze back to his friend. The sight what was waiting there was hideous.

Connie didn't have helmet anymore, the monster had tear it off. Instead the monster was holding the bald man still, its other hand on Connie's neck and other on his forehead. The monster was pressing him lower and now, when it had great view of the face, it was vomiting all over his face. The nasty brown fluid was covering his face that had burned because of the acids. The vomit wasn't only on his face, after Connie had shout in pain, the monster had a chance to target into his mouth.

Levi had finally got closer and he downright kicked the monster away from Connie. The monster changed its target and was now trying to get Levi into the same situation, but the short man kicked again and shoot it. He shoot it many times but the thing was tough as stone, trying to fight back. Annie went to help Levi, Sasha and Jean hurried over to Connie. Sasha was crying loudly and trembling, Connie's face looked so bad and his jaw was partially melted.

Connie was trying to breath, he was on his knees and the way his body was twisting looked very unnatural. The RIG's health line wasn't full anymore, it was slowly turning to red. Not long after that, Connie throw up. It was mix of vomit and blood, the acid the monster had got into his mouth and in his stomach was probably melting him from the inside. He threw up again and now it was only blood. His RIG let out long beep, the health line now empty. Connie's body fell onto the puddle on the floor, his eyes now lacking life.

"NOOO!!" Sasha's cry echoed and she moved him away from the puddle. Jean felt his eyes starting to water too and he bite his lower lip way too hard. This couldn't be true. No way, no!

Annie and Levi were now standing farther, both of them staying silent. The whole grow chamber was now filled with Sasha's sobs and it was hard for Jean to hold back his own tears. He felt guilty and responsible for the loss of Connie's life. Sasha had been busy killing the slasher group, she couldn't have helped him. Jean was trying to, but the fucking slasher had hopped onto his back and distracted him. He had been stupid to use all of his bullets to it, he should have saved a few of them.

"Jean. Come here." Levi's voice was cold as always, but somehow it felt faked now. The engineer stood up and walked closer to Annie and Levi, still holding back his own tears. "What?" he asked and stopped.

"Take her back to others. We will clean this area", Levi answered. His voice was a little bit softer now, even though there was still this little tone what was cold. He was probably sad but hid it behind the helmet. Jean didn't try to resist. He simply just nodded and moved back to Sasha, pressing his hand onto her shoulder.

He didn't say anything, he just waited patiently and were there to comfort her if she needed it. She took her time, sitting next to Connie's dead body. Levi and Annie were also there, they would continue when Jean and Sasha were heading back to the others.

They had no idea how long they just stood there. Eren and Reiner tried to contact them but they didn't answer. When Sasha finally stood up, Jean started to lead her to the exit, to the corridor what led to the elevator. Sasha didn't say anything, she was still sobbing and staring the floor.

When they returned to the Atmosphere control, the others were surprised and their gazes were full of questions. Reiner and Eren had taken their helmets off, the air in the room was getting better and they decided to take the risk. The helmets were little uncomfortable.

Sasha switched her helmet off and so did Jean. Sasha's eyes were starting to turn little bit red and tears were running on her cheeks. Eren and Reiner looked each other and then turned their gazes to Jean. Marco and Armin came closer but they then stood there, watching silently the duo. Bertholdt was the one who finally came closer. He didn't say anything but his gaze was full of empathy.

Bertholdt spread his hands and looked straight into Sasha's eyes. They didn't change any words, it was like they were communicating without words. Sasha finally moved closer and then leaned toward Bertholdt and buried her face against his chest, letting out small and quiet sobs. The tall nurse wrapped his arms around her and hugged tightly, not too tight though. She was sniffling and whimpering, saying something no one was able to understand. Bertholdt started to pet her hair with his other hand, making sure that she knew she wasn't alone.

Jean felt all of the questioning gazes on him. He should say something, hell, he must say something. They were waiting it, they were waiting that he told them what was going on. At the same time he knew that the others knew what had happened. They didn't know how it had happened, but they knew that Connie was no longer with them. Reiner and Eren's RIGs had informed about it, informed that one of their comrade was dead.

Someone wrapped their arms around Jean and pulled him into embrace. He didn't have to turn his head and look who was doing it. He knew it, he felt it. There was only one who embraced him like that. He tried to fight with the tears what were now trying to escape from the corner of his eyes, but it was weak attempt. He wasn't able to hold them any longer. The first tears escaped soon and then there was no holding back anymore.

He cried and the atmosphere on the room turned sadder too. Reiner and Eren were silent, Armin standing next to them and looking down like he didn't have any right to look at them on the face.

Jean turned around and buried his face into the crook of Marco's neck, his shoulders shaking and tears still floating. Marco started to stroke his sandy blond hair. Each stroke was gentle, like he was afraid that one too tough stroke would break the crying man. Like he was made of glass.

The room felt like it was frozen. There was only sniffling and sobbing, no one was talking, everyone was just standing there.

Jean was no longer crying, he was resting his head on Marco's shoulder and taking deep breaths. Sasha was silent now, but still curled up against Bertholdt. The tall man didn't seem to mind it, he was still making sure that Sasha wasn't feeling like she was alone.

Reiner, Armin and Eren moved farther and started to talk. It was more like whispering, they didn't want to speak loudly. Jean pulled away from Marco's warm and safe embrace, looking straight into his chocolate brown eyes. Marco looked sad but at the same time he looked like he was thinking something. He winced when Jean headed to the talking group. Marco didn't hesitate, he followed him.

"What happened there?" Eren asked, his voice was worried and confused, but at the same time it was sad. He just wanted to know what happened, that's all. He was curious. Jean turned his head and looked Bertholdt and Sasha before his gaze was back on the others. "We were attacked. A lot of monsters. Levi and Annie were on the other side of the room while we three were on the other. It was a monster what we had never seen. It killed him.... it killed.... it was so nasty..." Jean said, but he couldn't tell anymore. He couldn't describe how the monster had just threw up its guts onto Connie's face and in his mouth. It was disgusting, he felt like he was going to throw up if he even tried to tell them how it killed Connie.

Reiner and Eren didn't try to make him tell more. They looked at Jean, nodded and tried to calm him down. He didn't want to speak about that subject anymore. Marco was right next to him, making sure that if he felt like he needed a shoulder, there was one very close.

All they did now was waiting. They waited Levi and Annie. Eren and Reiner wanted to call them once in a while but Jean was trying to refuse them. They shouldn't. What if there was some kind of situation going on and if they called and it made their RIGs let out noises, they would be attacked. What if Levi or Annie died? They would be probably in deep shit. Without them there was no guarantee that they would survive any longer. Levi and Annie knew how to handle these situations. Eren and Reiner probably did too, but they didn't have the same skills like those two had.

Waiting was painful. It was painful to look Sasha, how she wasn't able to cry but she was still trying to. She was sniffling and trying to search protection from Bertholdt, because she refused to let go. Maybe because Bertholdt was tall and bigger than her, she found safety from him.

They kept checking the air quality time to time. It was looking great, the level wasn't dropping anymore. It was slowly raising, the air getting clear and more breathable. They should be happy about it and maybe they were, but the sad atmosphere was strong and powerful.

Annie and Levi finally returned. They were both okay, except that Levi's suit was dirty and he didn't look very pleased about it. They both took their helmets off and tested the air. Yes, it was better. It didn't smell anymore.

"Why is the air purity level still pretty low?" Levi asked and stared at the hologram screen. Jean was already working with the computer, trying to get any explanation why it wasn't higher. "There's still something..." Jean said and tried to search the reason why the air purity wasn't a lot higher. It was supposed to be.

Loud roar echoed again and now it was coming somewhere closer. It made all of them wince, but Armin looked more horrified than anyone else. He walked next to Jean and Levi, rubbing his hands nervously until he lifted his gaze and stared at them. "I... I think it's because the poison might not be strong enough.... The Leviathan might be still alive", he said, his voice trembling and the panic visible on his face. He was scared and he looked so hopeless, thinking about this possibility.

Levi stared Armin for a while until he moved his gaze. He was now staring at the big, round door behind the computer. It was the door to the primary food storage. Armin did mention that the Leviathan was supposed to be there.

"We're going to kill it."

Everyone was staring at Levi now, looking like he said something they couldn't believe. Armin winced again, even the thought of the Leviathan made him scared. "You sure? It's huge. It can kill you fast, it killed my friends with a single whip."

Levi was staring Armin, examining his face and making the hard decision. He couldn't just let that thing enjoy its staying, they had to kill it. It might be able to destroy the air again, destroy everything they had done here. It would mean that Connie, brave Connie, died for nothing. His death would be meaningless, all of their effort would be worthless.

"Yes. We're going to put an end to this", Levi said and Armin didn't try to say anything back. He knew he couldn't make Levi change the plan but he knew also that there wasn't any other choices left. If the Leviathan was left alive, it could start all of this bullshit again. They would have to start all over again, or just give up and wait for their deaths. No one wanted that.

The next problem was that who was going with him. He didn't have to say anything to Annie, she knew already that she was going there. Eren, as the suicidal bastard he was, announced that he will join them too. Reiner looked Bertholdt, who gave him tiny nod, and then he turned his face toward Levi. He wanted to go there too.

"I'll go too." All gazes turned to Jean, looking at him and probably judging. He didn't care, he stepped closer and cleared his throat. "I'm coming too", he said again. Marco was holding his hand and staring at him with unbelievable gaze. Levi's gaze felt like it was going to burn into Jean.

"You're an engineer."

"Doesn't matter. I'm coming too."

"But we need your skills."

"I don't care. I will still come and help you."

"You're out of your mind, you know that?"

"Not as suicidal as you, Eren."

"Shut up Jean."

Levi sighed, he was tired of hearing those quarrels again. It wasn't time for that, those brats won't ever learn that.

"Okay. You can come, but make sure you won't get yourself killed. We need you, you selfish brat", Levi gave up and moved to the door. Jean was pleased that he got permission, he didn't want to wait anymore. He wanted to revenge Connie's fate. That Leviathan should prepare itself, it was going to get killed today.

Marco didn't like Jean's decision. Not at all, he was holding Jean's hand and looking at him with judging gaze. It was surprising, Marco didn't usually judge anyone. His gaze was turning colder and a little bit angrier, which was weird because it would be more understandable if it was turning to more worried.

"Don't go, please", he tried to beg. Jean shook his head and separated from Marco's grip. "I will go, I will revenge him." Jean said, he didn't sound himself at all. He was angry, he wanted to make someone pay because of Connie.

"I need you", Marco insisted, trying to hold Jean's hand again but he moved away. "I won't get killed. I'll come back."

Marco stood there silently, watching how Jean moved closer to the round door. He didn't want Jean to go there. He didn't want him to face with whatever was waiting them there. He probably looked like an angry child.

The idea of leaving Bertholdt, Marco, Armin and Sasha alone wasn't lovely, but if they wanted to destroy the Leviathan, they needed people for that. "If something comes up, contact us", Levi said before he opened the round door and stepped inside the corridor what was waiting there. Annie and Eren followed him, while Reiner and Jean took final glances of the atmosphere control.

The corridor was round, long and fully covered with the strange slime and alien tissue. It was nasty. Everyone switched their helmets back and after the door closed, they started to walk. Their footsteps didn't even echo on the walls. It was the nasty squish under their feet. The floor was also covered with the slime. They hated the whole place. Nasty was the only word what could describe it.

At the end of the corridor was another big, round door. "That's it, that's the entrance to the food storage", Annie said and looked at the tag above the door. It told them that it was indeed the right door. The Leviathan was behind it. They could feel the atmosphere going more tense than ever.

"Be careful. We can't lose anyone." It was an warning, Levi was worried about them. He didn't show it like people usually show it, but he wanted them to get out of that room alive. After defeating the Leviathan.

The door opened annoyingly slowly, probably the slime was slowing it. When it finally opened, they stepped inside. The first thing they noticed in the dark room was the fact that it was zero-g room. Somehow it felt strange, but then again it might be logical for the storage.

Lights turned on and the door slowly closed behind them. What they found was something they actually couldn't believe it. The room was big, round and there was tiny glass windows nearly everywhere. The storages were there but now many of them were broken and empty, not even a single trace of food left of what might have been there. Most of the room was covered with strange alien tissue and slime, like the East Tower.

They couldn't see how long the room was, because a massive amount of amorphous slime and alien tissue was blocking the way. It was round like the whole room, red and in the middle of the tissue were something what looked like flesh.

"THAT is the Leviathan?!" Eren said and glanced at others. His voice echoed on the room and before anyone had a chance to say something, the whole room felt like it was shaking when the loud roar was there again.

In the middle of the giant thing, there was a gaping mouth and that was also the source of the voice. The Leviathan roared and its voice was so loud that it was hurting their ears. Close to its mouth were three orifices where came the huge tentacles. Tentacles, yes.

It slammed one of its tentacles toward the group, trying to smash them, but all of them moved away. Annie and Levi already used the room's status and jumped, flying almost to the ceiling. It was round room, it was easy to just run or jump to another wall. Zero gravity gave them nice help if they wanted to escape. It was easy to jump, it was easy to feel like they were flying. Their gravity boots made sure that they wouldn't just float there, they had still some kind of touch to the ground.

The way the giant monster roared was a sign to them to notice how pissed off it was. Probably the poison had made it angry, but it was furious now.

The Leviathan tried to smash them a couple of times with its huge tentacles. The more it tried and failed, the more angry it started to get. "Where are we supposed to shoot it?" Reiner asked, they were still trying to figure out what was its weak spot. They tried to shoot it but the flesh around it was tough and didn't do any damage. The tentacles were like they had some kind of hard skin, protection or something.

Annie didn't hesitate next time when the Leviathan hit the ground with its tentacle. She jumped straight toward it and took a tight grip, trying to search the weak point. Her movement, however, made the monster go nuts. It waved furiously the tentacle what Annie tried to examine it and at the same time the monster hit the wall with other tentacle, trying to get rid of the other humans.

Reiner did soon the same thing and jumped toward the other tentacle, trying to search the weak spot as well. There gotta be some kind of weak spot, the hard skin couldn't protect all of it.

Annie and Reiner failed to find the weak spot, the creature waved both tentacles and they lost their grip. Annie returned to stand on the ceiling, Reiner was standing on the wall and trying to shot the monster again.

Eren was helping Reiner, he jumped right next to him and started to shoot one of the tentacles. Levi and Jean stood close to the door and jumped when Leviathan tried to hit them with its enormous tentacle.

The situation felt hopeless, Leviathan didn't get any damage even if they tried their hardest. They were afraid that they would be soon out of the ammo. If that happens, there was no way they could kill it.

They still shot its tentacles, trying to find its weak spot. Eren and Reiner noticed how one of the tentacles looked a little bit like it was damaged. Both of them took a better glance of it and the noticed something odd on it.

Whatever it was, both men target it and shoot it. Leviathan let out painful scream and its tentacle was teared off. They glanced each other, they might have found one of its weak points.

"Where did you shoot?" Annie shouted and Reiner jumped right next to her. "Look", he said and pointed the other tentacle. Annie stared at it, she focused and then she saw it. The tentacle was all slim, except one thing. There was tiny round spot on it, like the spot was swollen or something. "That's it. Shoot it, it's the weak point", Reiner said after Annie discovered it and they both shot the weak point. Leviathan was crying in pain, its roars and scream were loud and horrible.

Soon Eren and the others shot the other tentacle as well, after Eren had told them where the weak spot was. Both of them were soon teared off. Tentacles started to broke into tiny pieces of flesh and it was soon all left from them.

The fight wasn't still over, even though Leviathan was still screaming in the pain, it was still alive.

Leviathan's mouth shot strange looking pods toward them. When the brown, rock-looking things smashed to the ground or the wall, it exploded and the nasty slime was covering everything on the little area where it exploded.

"Watch out, it's going to give us more of its love", Levi warned after realizing that this was now the monster's only way to fight back. How they would kill it now? No idea. They couldn't shoot it, there wasn't any other weak points. It was useless. They just had to dodge those strange pods and plan something else.

"What are we going to do now? We can't shoot it, there is no weak points!" Eren asked after he got closer to Annie. Annie shrugged her shoulders, she had no idea and it was the first time when she was feeling that something was scary. She hadn't felt it before, not even when the monsters started to take over the ship. But now, when the choices were limited and there wasn't any clear option, she was scared. She was afraid of the Leviathan.

The Leviathan was scary and everyone was scared of it. Of course, it was a killing machine. It was stronger and larger.

Jean stood there and stared at the thing, feeling how his own pain was growing. He could feel Sasha's suffering. He could even feel the pain of the workers who had tried to destroy Leviathan, but ended up getting killed.

"Fucking monster..." he growled. He was scared but at the same time he was tired. Tired of this bullshit, tired of everything. He wanted to go home, he wanted to leave and left this spaceship behind. He wanted his friend back. He wanted everything back.

Leviathan shot those strange pods again, trying to hit Annie and the other. They dodged, but the monster was now prepared and shot the last pod toward Reiner and Eren. It made Jean wince, it made him shout to them. He reached his hand to their direction like he tried to pull them out of the way. He was too far.

He closed his eyes and waited the explosion, but nothing happened. When he opened his eyes, he saw how everyone was staring at him, looking at him like he was an alien. Then he understood what had happened.

Fog-looking thing was holding the pod. It was close to Reiner and Eren, but they both moved away from it and were surprised. Even Jean was surprised.

"Jean!" he could hear how others shout at him. "You're..... you're an engineer.... hahaha... You're an engineer!" Eren said and even managed to laugh. Not his usual laugh, but somehow it sounded kind of relieved.

"Your suit.. it has telekinesis. You can fucking throw it back to it!" Reiner said and it was even strange to hear him curse. Jean felt relieved, he didn't know why but he just felt like it. The Leviathan was going to roar again, opening its moth wide and soon the painful scream was on the room. Jean moved his gaze to it and then he moved his other hand like he had threw baseball.

The pod fly back to Leviathan, straight into its mouth and exploded there. Its scream was more painful than ever. It was in pain, it was really in pain!

"Good! Do it again, let's end this shit here!" Eren praised and when the Leviathan shot pods again, Jean grabbed one with telekines he had on his suit.

Engineer suit had Kinesis module with Stasis module. They were usually a small modular plug-in resembling equipment what engineers used. Whereas Stasis causes an object to slow down, Kinesis is used to suspend and handle objects both heavy and light via an artificial gravity field created by the module. It allowed engineers and construction crews to move large masses easily in almost any environment. The modules were plugged into the armband.

"Throw it!" Levi ordered and Jean did what he said, he threw it back to the Leviathan. The pod exploded against the colossal monster, making it suffer in the pain. "Feels good, right?" Jean murmured and when the monster shot pods again, he grabbed one of them and threw it back to it.

It was the last straw. The Leviathan let out the loudest roar it had ever made and then it just simply died. It was starting to turn into strange pieces of flesh and other things, but they didn't even want to see how it would end up looking.

They exited as fast as they could. Everyone patted Jean's shoulders, praising him and telling him he did good job. Still the atmosphere didn't get too excited. Even though the Leviathan was dead and the air level was probably growing, they still didn't know how they could leave here.

"You did it?" Armin asked when the others came back and switched their helmets off. They were sweaty and panting, but nodded and were a little bit proud.

"Where's Marco?" Jean asked after realizing that the freckled man wasn't anywhere close. Bertholdt and Armin glanced each other before turning their gazes to Jean. "He went to the sappling room. I don't know why, but he just wanted a moment for himself." Bertholdt answered and looked at the sappling room's door.

Without any words, Jean opened the door and stepped to the sappling room. The door closed behind him and he looked around.

Thump. Thump.

He didn't like the sound.

"Marco?"

Thump. Thump.

Jean looked around, before he noticed movement on the corridor. He walked slowly toward the figure and his eyes widened a little bit. Marco was standing there and slowly, but with force, banging his head against the metallic wall.

Thump. Thump.

"What are you doing?" Jean asked and moved closer.

Thump.

The last bang had a lot power and it really looked like it hurt. Marco turned his head soon to Jean's direction and stared at him. "I'm so worried about you, you know that? You're driving me crazy, you idiot", Marco answered. His forehead had started to turn more reddish.

"I can see that, you act like you're going crazy", Jean answered. Marco moved closer to him and wrapped his arms around Jean, hugging him tightly like his life depended on it.

"You're suicidal like Eren, you know that?"

"Oh shut up Marco."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eww and here we are. I'm going to burn in Hell, my beta already cursed me.  
> I've been repeating myself when I've announced that this is going to take dark turn. It's happening now. The grim reaper is going to visit us more and new secrets and problems are going to be revealed soon.
> 
> Oh and I have other news as well, I'm going to start another multichapter story soon. Don't worry sweethearts, it's going to be side project and I'm not focusing to it as much as I'm focusing to this story. We will still keep up with one chapter per week (or if the summer job is going to slow me, then it's one chapter per two weeks) but fear not, I'm not going to abandon this story. This is the main project and I'll focus more on this! I just feel like I have to write something else at the same time or I'm going to explode of the dark stuff from this story :D 
> 
> Thank you for reading this chapter. The feedback is always very welcomed, I like to know what you thought about the chapter. See you guys next time on the next chapter, I love you all ^_^  
> *smooches*


	11. Lights out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You've got to be kidding... The Engineering deck is on the other side of this ship. Without tram it will take a really long time to walk through this messy shit"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM REALLY SORRY EVERYONE.  
> It's been so long since the last time and we missed the last week's chapter D: 
> 
> Anyway, I'm glad I finally got this chapter ready and now updated. It'll relieve my stress and I want to get this story move on too ^-^

"So... what are we going to do now?"

They were still at the Atmosphere control room. There air level was looking good and there was no need to worry about it. If it stayed like that, the oxygen wouldn't be a problem, which would be a damn good thing.

Levi tried to think, he was out of ideas and it made him stress a lot. Losing a member of team wasn't a trifle. It was huge problem and Connie had also been an engineer. The most valuable skills here were both fighting and the computer understanding and being able to repair things. Engineering skills were important and without Connie, Sasha won't be as useful as she was before. She and Connie were a team, really good team. They were able to repair many things. Without Connie, Sasha was just one big mess, he didn't blame her though. It was a horrible memory to all who had seen it. It was disgusting and nasty way to go.

Still, he wanted to think that they'd achieve something with just two engineers. Speaking of computers, they were lacking the information and the only place where they might get it was the Bridge. Only if the computers were able to connect again and not to mess up with them.

"That's it."

Every head turned to Levi's direction, waiting for him to tell them what he'd just come up with. Levi stared at others, he's still like a chief or leader, everyone was still assuming it. It probably gave them hope if there was a leader character and Levi couldn't just quit this task, even if he was feeling like a shitty leader. He blamed himself for the loss of Connie, why had he left the engineers to just wander around without him or Annie close to them? It was reckless mistake and they paid a huge price for it.

"Let's go back to the Bridge, fix those damn computers and get our shit together. The computers might give us the answer and info we need." Levi really wanted to get all the information he could, he was curious, he wanted to know every little thing about this bullshit. If he dies in this shithole, he at least wanted to know as much as possible.

"I need you to fix the computer and the other one in the Captain's nest too. There must be all the information about the artifact", Levi said, taking a glance of Jean before he reloaded his gun. "The Bridge is our key now, there we can found out more."

No one tried to deny Levi's words. The Bridge sounded like it sealed all they needed inside it.

"What do you even want to know about the Marker? It's stupid artifact, nothing else. Bad omen, ugly piece of trash. Only piece of shit", Annie announced, she had already made clear that she didn't like the Marker. It probably made her uncomfortable and she didn't like that feeling, she didn't like to be confused or maybe even scared.

"The Marker is bad omen. After discovering it, everything went crazy. _Everything_. I don't want to get near to that thing and it's better if everyone stays away from it", Bertholdt supported Annie, his face turning unamused. He hated that artifact. He blamed it, it was the most evil thing in his eyes. Whatever it was, he really wanted to stay far, far away from it.

"Have you seen it?" Eren asked. Bertholdt shook his head, he had just heard some rumours about it but he had never actually seen it, it was well protected and there was no entry for civilians to get closer to it. The captain and other senior members had protected the Marker like it was the forbidden fruit or something.

"I have only seen a small glimpse of it, we had to shoo some of the crew members away from it, they were usually just those who were really deep into the unitology. They wanted to see it, it's their relic or something." It wasn't a surprise that Annie had seen it, she had been, after all, in the chief's team.

"When you're speaking about it like it really is some kind of treasure, you know that you're just waking our interest even more?" Jean asked, his snarky comment making the atmosphere tense. This was the first time when they discussed about the Marker and it was a subject of great interest. They were probably going to end up fighting with each other if they continued this way. It was a cruel division between the group.

Almost half of them were actually really interested in this Marker, this stupid artifact what seemed to be something the captain of the Ishimura and the unitology church really wanted. Then the other half claimed that it's evil and they shouldn't get closer to it.

"If you want to go there and see it, I'm not going to stop you. I am not going to near it." Annie turned her gaze away and sighed. She wasn't in the mood to argue about this subject. She hated it, the Marker wasn't something she found as a good subject for talks.

"I think if we get rid of the Marker, the situation might change. If it's the reason to all this, it's only logical choice." Armin's idea wasn't bad, Eren and Reiner agreed that it was actually a really good idea. Still, both of them were curious, this artifact sounded interesting. Why was it so important to the unitology anyway? Who knew, it was probably something only the leaders of the cult knew.

Levi didn't join the conversation but he was listening to it while trying to think of what they should do next.

The compromise came shortly after they moved away from the Hydroponics Deck. No words about the Marker were said anymore, the atmosphere was tense and it made it feel like the artifact was a banned topic. Maybe it was, it was clearly the cause of disagreements.

They didn't have really time for that or to fight with each other, the most important thing now was to make the perfect plan what'd keep them alive as long as possible until they'd find a way to get out of here. All of them, there wasn't any second thoughts to the option of leaving someone here with all the monsters. It'd be inhuman.

As they had guessed, the Bridge hadn't really changed since the last time the USG Kellion crew was there.

"You should give a try to the main computer. You might understand what it wants. We'll go to the Captain's nest and see if Sasha can do something to the computer there. If not, then I'll need your help", Levi said and gave his last glance to Jean before he, Sasha and Annie left the main atrium.

Eren sure seemed to be disappointed that Levi had replaced him with Annie. Eren was so eager to learn and taking inspiration from Levi, he admired the other man. Levi indeed was good cynosure, even though there was crazy shit going on and one of their team mates had died, he was still the leader character and tough as stone. How did he do it? Who knows, Levi was mysterious but very reliable man.

Reiner stood closer to Jean, making sure his back was safe while he was trying to make things go smoothly. The computer just didn't agree with him. Swearing made him feel a little better. Only a little. He still wanted to beat the shit out of it, he wasn't really in the mood for dealing with these kind of problems right now.

Though Armin, Bertholdt and Marco didn't exactly have any kind of knowledge about the Bridge's computer system or anything, they too were still curious. Armin found one computer what was still on and he was examining it with Bertholdt, they both tried their best to help.

When the main computer let out the annoying error sound again, Jean had to take a break for a moment or he was going to destroy the whole thing. It was making him so angry, the sound was so annoying and reminded him that he wasn't getting anywhere.

"It's okay Jean, calm down", Marco said and stroked Jean's back. Jean was getting frustrated, he understood it well, but now wasn't the time to start acting like a kid. If the freckled man let the other's bad mood continue, it was going to end up with him acting like a annoyed child.

"At least you're trying, that's the important thing, don't you think?"

"No Marco, that's not good enough!"

"Calm down Jean."

"I'm just so annoyed right now."

Jean was staring at Eren, who looked like a kid who got scolded. If Marco wasn't holding him, he'd have got closer to the brown haired man and start some kind of stupid argument with him. Like always, Eren and Jean usually unloaded their anger to each other. That was mostly the biggest reason why they got into a lot of fights.

"Hey... you should come and see this." Armin's voice got everyone's attention and soon all of those who were at the main atrium had gathered around the computer Armin was examining.

"What is that?" Eren asked and stared at the screen. The screen showed some kind of map and there was also a tiny bright red dot, moving around. They didn't have any idea what Armin had found, but whatever it was, they really wanted to learn more about it. What was hiding behind that tiny dot?

"I didn't know it is possible to trace and watch someone like this." Jean had to admit it, he had no clue about this alternative. It was too good to be true and he didn't want to make himself look like a fool here. Not again, he had already made it a couple of times.

All of them knew they should inform Levi about this. The problem was just that Levi was at the Captain's nest and probably he didn't want more people there, something was definitely going on. Levi was too interested about the Captain's nest and its computer, was he searching something?

"Oi, Kirschtein, come here. We need your help here."

Speaking of the devil. It seems that Sasha couldn't do anything about the computer there, it was now Jean's turn to try to fix it. Annie came back from the Captain's nest and announced that they really needed him there.

"Fine fine, I'm going", Jean muttered to himself and looked around. Bertholdt and Reiner were speaking to each other or at least it looked like that. However, knowing them, they probably weren't just talking. Maybe they had some kind of little flirt game going on, but they didn't want to let it be so visible. Definitely not in front of Sasha.

Jean saw Marco and he was glad he didn't have to say anything, it was like Marco read his mind when he came closer and then they went together to Captain's nest. Jean wasn't going to let Marco out of his sight again.

The Captain's nest hadn't changed a bit since the last time Jean was there with Reiner. He was sure Levi was gone through all the files and possible diary if there was one. Everything still looked untouched except the computer, it was showing the announcement that there's something wrong in the system.

Sasha had tried her best. She told Jean everything she had done and what she had find out while trying to fix it. He was amazed that the computer was actually working for a while until it decided to screw with them again.

"It's okay Sasha, I'll see what I can do. Thank you for informing me." Jean tried to make Sasha feel more comfortable, she looked stressed and probably was. Levi's gloomy gaze didn't help at all, it made everything more worse than it was already.

She didn't stay there long after Jean started to fix the computer, Sasha asked a permission to go the main atrium and when she got it, she left without a word. Poor girl, it wasn't fair that her partner was killed like that. Then again, nothing in the Ishimura was fair anymore. The whole ship was like a living hell.

Marco leaned against the wall and took tiny glances of the room. It was his first time in the Captain's nest and to be honest, it was his first time at the Bridge too. He didn't have any reason or issue to visit there when everything was fine and the ship wasn't full of monsters. The only people who got to the Bridge were the computer workers, Captain and high ranked doctors, security staff etc. The ordinary nurse didn't have any reason to go there.

He sighed and run couple of times his hand through his black hair. He didn't like the atmosphere in the tiny room, Levi was making him feel really uncomfortable. Levi was scary and it felt like he was always angry or something. Of course he was stressed and not in the good mood, it was clear that when your life's on the line, there isn't really any time to relax. Levi was the leader of this group, he had no time to relax. He had to take care of them, they were his responsibility.

Suddenly lights turned off and all that was left was darkness. The sudden darkness made Marco wince, he hadn't expected anything like this to happen.

"What was that?" Levi asked, he sounded a little bit nervous.

"I don't know", Jean answered. It was harder to try to work without any light, he needed it and he even asked if Levi could turn his gun's light on. Maybe it was short circuit or something.

"I hope it isn't anything big, we can't move anywhere if we don't have any lights. See what you can do and fix it if you can." Levi's voice was bossy like always, but somehow it was a little bit smoother too, like he was trying to comfort them at the same time. Maybe he was trying to get the whole room stay calm, panic wouldn't help anyone.

Levi showed light to Jean and while they tried to solve the problem, the noises above them distracted them. Something was going on at the atrium, but they didn't know what. The room was almost completely muted, only the loudest noises got through to the Captain's nest.

"Shit, I can't do anything. I'm not even sure if the problem is really here or is it at the other deck. If it isn't from here, it must be at the Engineering deck." Jean's voice was shaky, he was slightly disappointed that he couldn't do much here. He didn't want to move to the other deck, without electricity nothing works here. Doors open usually automatically, so unless they have some kind of manual opening system as well, there was no way they could open doors. And the tram couldn't move without power, so they'd have to walk through the huge ship.

"We have to walk then. There's no other choice", Marco said, he looked calm but his voice revealed that deep inside him he was just a scared mess. He didn't want to show how scared as hell he actually was.

"You've got to be kidding... The Engineering deck is on the other side of this ship. Without tram it will take a really long time to walk through this messy shit", Jean moaned, hiding his face behind his hands for a moment. He didn't like the idea. No way! It was dark, the monsters can appear out of nowhere and they can't even be sure where those things are if it's pitch black everywhere. Fucking technology and its need for electricity.

They didn't have time to argue with each other about what they should do, they remembered that the others were still at the main atrium and dear lord, the sounds a little while ago weren't promising. What happened there?

Levi already was trying to contact Eren, letting annoyed muffled curses when he couldn't call him or anything via RIG. Why he wasn't answering? Jean tried to contact Reiner, but it was the same result as with attempt to reach Eren. No answer, there was absolute silence.

Marco stood next to door and waited if Levi or Jean could contact someone. He winced suddenly and glanced around, goosebumps appearing to his skin. His body felt stiff, he wasn't sure was it the darkness what made him feel that way.

The sudden scream scared all of them. It came from the Bridge, right above them. From the main atrium. It was all they needed to decide to get out of the Captain's nest and check what was going on, even though at the same time they didn't really want to go anywhere else. The door of Captain's nest was very strong and tough, no monsters could get there. It was by far the safest place they knew at the moment.

"We have to check it, let's go. Be careful", Levi said and opened the door. He stepped out of the room first, Jean and Marco following right on his heels. As they had guessed, the main atrium was also out of power. All of the computers were off as well as all the lamps. Still the whole huge room was lighted, the light came from the space. The main atrium had gigantic windows and the Ishimura was lighted by stars somewhere far away.

Jean wondered how the Captain's nest went so dark after the lack of lights, but then he realized that someone had covered the windows there. Who and why? There was no time to think about it right now.

"Is anybody here?" Levi whispered and looked around. No signs of any individual, it was like everyone had disappeared into a thin air. Where were they? What had happened here? It was weird, they hadn't heard any running steps while they were trying to fix the captain's computer.

The floor had blood traces but there wasn't any bodies. No bodies of their comrades or bodies of the monsters. Only blood and traces.

Marco walked close to Jean, examining the area with his gaze while Jean lighted some darker places with his gun's light. The room was empty, there wasn't anyone except the trio.

"Huh, that's strange. Should we try to contact them again?" Jean asked when he and Marco returned to Levi. He nodded, already trying to contact someone, this time Annie. Now that there wasn't any computers on, the room was lacking the whir sound. It had been there all the time, they just didn't pay attention to it, but now when it was missing, they definitely noticed it. The silence was making the whole place look more eerie and deserted than it was before.

Jean and Marco tried to contact people as well. Marco tried to call Bertholdt and Jean on the other hand was calling Sasha. No luck, there wasn't any answers. It made all of them nervous and Jean was now trying to locate his comrades with his RIG. The projectors opened the hologram screen and he tried to search other's locations.

He was so focused on to the RIG that he didn't even realize the lack of Marco next to him. RIG wasn't helping him much, he couldn't find others. Only good thing what RIG could tell him was that others were alive. It was important information and he was glad to hear it. When he closed the hologram screen, he realized that Marco wasn't there.

"Marco?" Jean asked, glancing around and searching the freckled man. Where did he already go? Before he started to stress about the other man, he saw Levi standing farther with Marco, they were staring something. Jean was relieved that he hadn't already lost Marco. He wasn't going to let that happen ever again. Ever.

He walked next to them and turned his head toward the direction they were staring at.

"Wasn't that door sealed?"

"I'm sure it was."

"Well, whatever did that, was big and powerful..."

The door to the Bridge Security Room was completely destroyed, like someone had blown it up. It was mess and they were sure it the last time they saw it, the door was sealed so tightly that any human wouldn't be able to open it ever again without good equipment. They didn't have the equipments needed to open it, so none of their friends couldn't manage to do it.

"I don't want to go there", Marco announced immediately when he understood that Jean and Levi were probably thinking about a little visit to the Bridge's security room. No, he didn't want to go there, it was creepy and whatever had destroyed the door might still be there.

"I agree, we shouldn't go there." Even though Levi said that, it was sure that he wanted to check it. The lack of guns or any other weapons was good enough to make him stay here and not go there. Marco didn't have weapon, only Levi and Jean had guns. The ammo, however, was running pretty low. The security room probably had them, but it could also be a death trap.

They didn't argue about it, somewhere echoed the muffled roar and it sealed their option not to go there. They still needed ammos but they couldn't risk themselves there.

When the main atrium was left behind and they moved far away from the windows, it started to get darker and darker. The lack of electricity was now clearly seen, the corridors being pitch black and there wasn't any other source of light besides their guns. The atmosphere felt terrifying and creepy, the dark corridors definitely didn't make them feel safe or anything, more like scared.

"We have to use the tram system's railways, it's the only way to move straight to the Engineering deck. We need to walk straight forward. The Bridge is right at the front of the ship, the Engineering deck on the other hand is at the back of it. It's long way, but we have no other way. Walking from deck to deck without railway will take a lot more time", Marco explained when Jean gave questioning gazes toward Levi.

Levi trusted Marco's word, he had already been at the Engineering deck before and Marco knew Ishimura, even though he worked at the other deck. He had better overview than Levi or Jean had.

Levi was leading them, sometimes asking if Marco happens to know how far they are or were they closer to some other deck. Marco wasn't as good as Annie was when it came to estimate distances between the deck or something else, he didn't know as much as Annie knew. It was okay, all they needed was someone who knew at least something about this ship. Also it was like a nice ''extra'' that he's a nurse.

"Let's hope others are okay. Something disturbs the connection. It might be something in this ship or just some other external factor, maybe something in the space. It just feels strange that the RIGs are acting this way", Jean muttered and checked his RIG again. RIG was supposed to work, no matter what the situation was, but now he didn't even know what was causing this.

It'd have been explained if only Marco's RIG did it, civilian RIGs weren't as advanced as engineer's because civilian's didn't need all that technology and additional functions. The members of security teams also had some kind of advanced RIG, but everyone was able to separate different kind of RIGs.

Jean and Levi were busy to keep an eye on literally everything, sometimes somewhere came a single metallic clank or some other sounds. There was even once a sound above them what sounded like heavy breathing, but no matter how they pointed the light toward the sounds, nothing was hiding in the dark. They couldn't find any source of those sounds. It was good, but at the same time it was making them stressed. Anything could just jump behind them and attack without any notice, if it was just sneaky enough.

Marco was trying to contact others with his RIG. It was ridiculous, he just couldn't understand how everyone had disappeared like that, like they were simply just wiped away. He mostly tried to contact either Bertholdt or Armin. Once he tried to contact Annie too, without any luck. He was more worried than ever, he just wanted to make sure they were unhurt and safe. They'd explain later what had happened at the main atrium.

He lost his hope and didn't even try anymore. It was useless and he had already tried dozens of times, at least it felt like that. He didn't want to get angry at RIG, it wouldn't help them and maybe others will try to contact them when they have a chance or something.

And just when none of them tried to call anyone, someone actually called back them.

"Where the hell are you?" Jean shouted and stared at the hologram screen his RIG had formed. Someone had called them with video call but the screen didn't show anything. Levi and Marco stood next to Jean and Marco tried to hush him. Not so loud, shouting was going to echo on the walls of the hall.

Someone said something, but the buzzing was back in the business and making sure they didn't hear a single word. If Marco wasn't hushing and touching Jean's hand, there'd probably be another amount of curses echoing on the walls.

"Jean calm down, don't shout. The tunnels and halls echo a lot." He was speaking the truth, the railway mostly leaded through the different tunnels and sometimes halls, even if they just said something, it was going to echo. Shouting didn't only echo on the place where they were, it can be heard very long distance.

"Too late. We got company, thank you Kirschtein", Levi said when something answered to Jean's echoing curses. Whatever it was, it probably was huge. The footsteps it made weren't anything any human could do.

They didn't want to wait until the monster would show itself from the darkness. The best choice was to try to escape, to run away. They ran and not a single glance back was given, it'd just slow them down and if they saw the predator what was definitely running somewhere behind them.

The chaser was getting closer but they still refused to look behind. They didn't exactly want to see it.

"It's getting closer", Jean said and got Levi's angry gaze on him.

"Well, I think the best choice is to shut up and run, if you value your life", Levi answered, he was stressed and probably just removing his negative energy and Jean was just great victim to it.

The loud thump and groan made them turn their gazes behind.

"Marco! Now it's not the time", Jean said, making himself such a big dickhead. Marco had tripped over a body that was lying on the railway and now he was just curled up as tiny as possible and trembling.

Jean didn't hesitate, he ran back to him and grabbed the other man's hand. He was trying to help him get up, but something was holding him still.

Dead body was lying just next to Marco, but its hand was clutching his leg, he couldn't get up. The footsteps in the dark were getting louder and closer, Jean didn't even want to point his gun's light to see what was actually coming toward. He bit his lower lip for a moment, until he sat down, wrapped his hands around Marco and soon they both were lying on the floor. Jean pressed Marco tightly against his chest, protecting him from the upcoming threat.

They noticed that Levi wasn't trying to ran away, he was there with them. He stood a little bit farther, but he did the same thing as they did. He dropped himself on the floor and lie down, waiting the grim reaper.

"Turn the light off." Levi's muffled whisper barely made into Jean's ear. Levi already turned the little lamp off and when Jean did the same thing, then there was only darkness. It was dark, pitch black.

The footsteps came closer and then they were at the same location with the trio. Everything was silent except for something what was moving on the area, searching them.

Marco's body turned more stiff when the steps came just right next to him. He somehow managed to stay silent, Jean's protective arms made him stay calm, even though he was scared. So scared.

Jean felt something staring at him, he didn't want to know what was standing there. He closed his eyes and just hugged Marco, holding him as close as possible. His body stiffened too when he felt a small air flow, like something was sniffing him.

It felt like it lasted an eternity. The thing moved around, sometimes going closer to Levi and then returning to Jean and Marco's location.

Jean was actually waiting the pain, he was waiting that some kind of monster would attack them. This was far worse, he wasn't sure anymore what was happening or if he would die soon. His heart was pounding hard against his chest and he felt the cold sweat on his forehead. He was going to die. Holy shit, he was going to die.

Then everything just calmed down. The area was dark because of the lack of the lights and the atmosphere had been tense, but after a while it just suddenly calmed. The footsteps were now echoing again but they were going somewhere. They were moving away, leaving them alone. Soon it was just silent, no footsteps or other sounds. Only thing what they were able to hear was their heavy breaths. Just their breaths.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm apologizing again, I've been so damn tired and stressed and my inspiration has been somewhere else, that's why this chapter is a little bit shorter. Lack of time has been also one big slower. But no worries, it'll be 2 weeks more and then my summer job is done and all I can shout is FREEDOM!!  
> ..... And then I'll have another entrance exam ,_, but after that there's only me and freedom, I'll have a lot of time again to write and enjoy everything ~
> 
> You might know if you've read my other fic that I had an entrance exam this week. That's the main thing what has been making me feel shitty. Agh I hope I didn't fucked up it. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this little short chapter I somehow managed to write. It's not the best ones and I feel a little bit ashamed of it but I couldn't write anything else at the moment. We're definitely moving now with the plot, the new revelations are coming with furious pace. The only fear I have now is that my inspiration's going to run dry. 
> 
> As usual, feedback is always very welcomed and if you found something really messed up or typos or anything like that, you can point them out ^^  
> I hope we meet again very soon! Smooches! ~ (ɔ˘ ³(ˆ‿ˆc)  
> Thank you for being patient.


	12. Encounters at the Engineering Deck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I think we're getting company"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY ┻━┻ ︵ヽ(`▭´)ﾉ︵ ┻━┻  
> It's here! And my mind is on peace again, at least for a while now.  
> Thank you really much to my lovely beta, who checked this so rapidly that I can't still believe it's been checked. I LOVE YOU.
> 
> Ehehe well anyway, I've been really really late and I'm so going to apologize about it like a thousand times (╥﹏╥)

The hide-and-seek in the darkness was something no one ever wants to experience, especially when the seeker is a monster. Or monsters.

Jean wasn't able to move, all he did was lie on the ground and keep Marco very close to him. The footsteps were gone but the tense atmosphere still lingered and reminded them that the danger wasn't still gone. There was always a chance that something was lurking in the dark, waiting patiently for their guard to slip.

They stayed like that for a small eternity, until a tiny light was turned on again. Levi stood up and came closer, showing a light to Marco and Jean's way and making sure they were unhurt. Even though Levi was cold outside, he was surprisingly warm inside. He just didn't show it easily. However, the situation now was different, and it wouldn't help at all if he was acting like a heartless person. Even if he didn't want to say it out loud, they all needed people close to them. This situation was of that kind.

Feeling Levi's soft gaze, Jean already felt a little bit relaxed. The fact that he wasn't alone here was one of the biggest things to make him feel less scared. And of course the other fact was that Marco was here. But he was worried, even if he didn't show it. He was worried, or more like scared to death.

After he had had a moment in his own thoughts, he was back to the reality and his gaze fell to man next to him. Marco wasn't shivering anymore, he was getting back onto his feet and then lending his hand to help Jean get up.

They tried to search the body what had been lying on the ground and also was the reason why Marco had fallen. It was gone, it was like the body had disappeared. They didn't know how it was possible that a dead person had grabbed Marco's leg, but then again nothing here was normal anymore.

Without any words, they continued walking. None of them had enough courage to speak or they didn't know what they could say.

The silence rapidly formed an atmosphere what wasn't enjoyable. It was tense, making every sense sharper than they usually were. They didn't want to get surprised so they couldn't afford to let their senses relax. Their lives were on the line here all the time.

The next time they took a little break and stopped, Jean remembered something what had happened on the Bridge before this new situation had begun. The red dot what Armin had discovered on the other computer.

"Hey, I think there's something you should be informed as well." Jean didn't even recognize his voice. Maybe he was scared even now, even though he might not have become aware of it until now. All the time he was ready to face something horrible what wanted to take all that he had left.

Levi turned his head and stared the blonde. Even Marco looked a little confused and watched Jean. They both waited him to continue whatever he was going to tell.

"While you were on the Captain's nest, trying to solve the computer problem there, Armin discovered something from one of the few computers what still worked. I don't know what he did, but the computer had opened a map and there was this one little red dot, moving around. It was like the computer was following its target or something, I'm not really sure what it was. I've never seen anything like that."

The whole time when Jean was explaining the discovery, he took a mental notes of Levi and his expressions. At first Levi seemed to be calm, but when he heard all of it, he was changing more frustrated and slightly disappointed.

"Why didn't you tell that earlier?" Was the first thing he asked, his voice now cold and little angry. They understood Levi's reaction very well, this was really important finding and he wasn't aware of it until now. He might as well feel little offended and betrayed.

"I'm sorry, I was going to tell it after the captain's computer was repaired but as you know, we got more problems. And then I just forgot it, until now. I'm really sorry", Jean apologized, trying to sound as sorry as possible. He didn't want to get Levi's anger onto him, Levi was really scary when he was angry.

"I think it's my fault too, I should have told it while you were working on the computer", Marco interrupted, trying to get everything blamed onto him. Jean shook his head, it wasn't his fault.

"No, it was my job on the first place to inform something like that. Computers are my area anyway."

Levi retreated from the conversation, falling into his own deep thoughts and trying to look at this situation now with a new point of view. Also he wasn't in the mood to listen to those two lovebirds going on, arguing about whose fault it was or not. He didn't really care who was the main culprit.

He was now very interested about this map and the red dot. There was clearly some kind of meaning to it, but they couldn't go back and check on it. They needed to fix this energy problem or they won't open any of the computers again. And the lack of lights was dangerous enough to make them go to the Engineering deck.

"We just have to check it later, when we have more time. Whatever it is, it might be something we can find useful. Let's move on", Levi said after he had cleared his thoughts enough.

They finally arrived to the Engineering Deck's tram station. The station was as messy and dark as the other stations. No sign of any individual or possible survivors. A human shape was sitting on one of the benches, but when they checked it, it was just another dead person. They had already started to accept the assumption that there wasn't anyone else alive anymore. Most of the members were either torn to pieces or turned into a monsters.

Levi walked ahead when they headed to the long and dark corridor. The walls were bloodier than most of the other decks' walls they had already seen. Sometimes there was even a separated hand or leg lying on the floor. Even though it started to be a common sight, it still made them feel sick.

When they were sure it was safe enough to talk, Levi decided to make use of Marco's career and started to ask things from him. He was interested about the whole space ship and probably he had asked same kind of questions from Annie too.

"The Engineering area was actually one of the most dangerous decks here. Only high-leveled engineers usually worked here, class five engineers and even higher leveled", Marco told, his gaze wandering around the corridors and sometimes returning back to Levi's back.

"I've read something about the dangers of this deck. The reason for why this area has been noted as one of the dangerous ones is because here people mostly worked with the immense engines, and the whole deck is designed differently from decks like the Bridge and the Medical deck, right?"

"Yes, that's true. I haven't ever visited here before but I heard that this place was even normally a very dark place. The Fuel storage is large and dark open area. It's rather high above the floor."

"Well, then we definitely shouldn't pay visit there. At least we don't have any need to touch to the engines."

Levi glanced at Jean after the man had announced his own comment about this deck. Jean didn't like it and neither did Levi or Marco. The place was already creepy but without the lights it felt even more hellish than ever. Whoever designed this place should be given a credit and an award. The Engineering deck was important and they couldn't came up with any logical reason why it has to be the darkest area. How did the engineers even work here in the dark?

At the end of the corridor was a round steel door. They were lucky though, many doors on the Ishimura were automatical doors and without any power, there was no way they'd be able to open those doors. However, the door to the Engineering deck's control room was both automatically open-able and it was also possible to open it manually.

Only thing what really sucked was the steel door itself. It was heavy and opening it manually was pain in the ass. No wonder why people usually preferred automatically opening doors.

The trio moved inside the room, as quietly as possible and started to search any kind of system what was responsible for the energy and the electricity.

"These shitty little lamps won't help us enough", Jean cursed after getting annoyed by the gun lights and was soon scolded by Levi, who wasn't in the mood to listen to the younger one's complaints.

The control room was spacious, or it was supposed to be at least. The room was designed to be like half circle and it was full of lockers and closets against the walls. In the middle of the room was little cubicle-looking room where the control room's computers were located. There were three computers but only one chair and someone was already sitting there. Well, it looked like that. When they got closer, they were disappointed to find out the person was already dead.

"Are you fucking serious, why is there nothing more than computers? Where's the switches and other things? Like seriously, those computers need power too." Jean was getting more annoyed again, desperately trying to search something what would hold the magic to turn the power back. He and the others had hoped that this was going to be an easy task. It was starting to look like it was going to be more complicated than what they had thought.

Jean was cursing silently until sharp 'shh' made him quiet. He turned and pointed the gun's light toward Levi.

Levi was staying still, glancing around the dark room and sometimes he dragged the light toward the direction he was staring that moment. Neither Jean or Marco dared to ask what he was trying to listen. It might look like Levi was being too careful, but that's way better than ignoring little details.

The room went all silent, the trio just looking around and waiting something to happen. They waited patiently. Even when they were starting to turn impatient or scared, they still remained quiet.

And when they less expected it, something begun to whirr and the computer turned on. The little lamps on the control room switched on too, pitifully trying to light the room. They didn't help much, the whole place was still gloomy.

Jean moved to the computers while Levi and Marco stood there, watching the room and wondering what the hell had just happened.

The computers didn't help much, none of them were able to help them understand why the powers were off and now back again. Jean was typing something, trying to search anything helpful through the database.

One of the screens opened some kind of security camera picture from the Engineering deck's tram station.

"I think we're getting company", Jean said and that caught Levi's attention.

"What is it?" Levi asked, leaning against one of the closets and his gaze was now on Jean's back. It felt like his eyes were going to sink in any moment.

Even though there was a big steel door, they were able to hear how high-pitched whistle echoed on the corridors, coming from the direction of the tram station.

"There's an tram and someone just got out of it. I don't know who it is, they've hide their face behind the helmet", Jean answered and slowly Marco moved next to him. He took a good look at the screen but unfortunately he wasn't able to recognize this strange character.

Before Jean really noticed, Levi had walked next to him and when he suddenly saw him, he winced. Levi was staring at the screen, observing every movement of the person who was at the tram station.

The video wasn't any HD material, the cameras were probably damaged but at least they still managed to get some kind of video.

Suddenly one of the common monsters came running and jumped to the station. Even though the camera didn't record any sounds, they were able to imagine what kind of roars the monster let out.

"We can't help them. Too far, not our problem." Levi's words sent a shiver down Jean's spine. He moved his gaze to the shorter man and tilted his head. Levi probably knew what he was speaking. Even if they wanted to help that poor person, they wouldn't be fast enough. The low amount of ammo was another thing what made them stay there and just watch how someone was trying to fight for their life.

Marco didn't want to watch how the monster was going to rip half the poor soul, but something made Jean turn his gaze back to the screen. Levi didn't have any kind of problems watching what was going to happen, like he had already got used to seeing death everywhere.

The monster was slowly getting closer to the person, its blade-like hands reaching toward its victim. Jean secretly hoped the monster would be fast, he didn't want to see how someone was going to die brutally and painfully. The faster it was, the better that way.

When the monster sprinted toward the person, Jean was ready to cover his eyes if it was going to get nasty. However, he wasn't prepared to the next thing he was going to see.

Without any good reason, one of the monster's limb was cut off. It was its right hand. The next limb to be cut off was the right leg and when the monster fell on the ground, the person stomped its head with power. Its head was crushed into pieces and soon the other hand as well.

"They have a gun. We need to be careful, it seems that they know what they're dealing with. Some people won't be as cooperative as Annie is. We have to make sure what their motive and goal is before we let them know about us", Levi commented and Jean couldn't help but wonder how that was even possible.

"I'm sure they know about us. Or at least they know here's people who weren't originally here when this alien thing hit here", Jean said and turned his toward Levi. Levi's face was pretty neutral, he didn't look like he was scared or anything. He didn't show any kind of emotion, it was weird. How he was able to be that calm?

"Are you really sure about? I got totally different picture from the latest details." Levi's gaze moved to Marco, who was standing there silently and just listening the conversation. When he felt the gaze, his eyes met with Levi's. As fast as their gazes locked, the freckled man turned his head away like he was afraid to look at the other man.

When they watched the computer screen again, they noticed that the person was looking at the corridor's way for a couple of minutes.

"Shit, they're already decided to come here." Jean said when the person started to head toward the corridor. So, someone else must have been interested about the Engineering deck as well, maybe they wanted to know as much as Levi and the others why the power went off for a while.

"We have to hide."

Levi's words were like the powerful command and he didn't have to repeat it. The only problem was that the control room was lacking any good hiding places. Some of the closets were big and empty enough for person to fit there.

Marco was one of those who had no problems fitting himself inside the metallic closet. His nurse suit wasn't armored like Levi's security suit or Jean's engineer suit. Some of the closets were locked, but there were great amount of them unlocked too.

The room had couple of vending machines and with a quick organizing and moving, Jean was able to make himself a hiding place behind the machines. Luckily even with lights on, the room was dark enough to hide him. Only thing he had to really take sure to be hidden was health line on the back of his suit. The blue light what was coming from it would wake up doubts if it's seen.

Levi, who couldn't stuff himself into any of the closets because of the design of his uniform, had to make Jean share his hiding place with him. There wasn't enough time left, so Jean had no other choice but to share.

The door opened and footsteps echoed in the room. Someone entered and glanced around. Levi and Jean tried to peek and watch this stranger.

The stranger moved to the computers and started to tap, probably writing something and trying to search some kind of information. They weren't able to see what this person was doing on the computers or what they tried to search. Also the stranger didn't take their helmet off, what meant that they were ready to face any kind of monsters any time.

Marco had a better view from his hiding place, watching this stranger's back from the little holes on the closet's door. But the back was only thing he could see, the person was standing right in front of the computer screens, covering them so that the freckled man had no chance to see what the stranger was checking.

Levi and Jean could have tried to communicate with each other by whispering, they were so close but they didn't want to take a risk.

Suddenly the room was filled with a loud message sound, what was coming from Levi's RIG. Someone was trying to call him.

"Shit", Levi cursed silently while trying to silent the damn thing. Of course someone was trying to call him at the moment like this, why didn't he thought about this? It was already late to try to pretend it was nothing or simply just came from the computers, because the person was still close to those damn machines and if the sound would have come from one of the computers, they'd have known it.

But by the way the stranger had backed up, lifting their gun close to them and turning their head around, it was clear that they knew someone else was in the room too.

"Stay here", Levi formed on his lips and turned his helmet on again. He had to show himself or else the stranger was going to turn this room upside-down when they tried to search the source of the sound.

The person was walking closer, searching and when they got close enough to the vending machines, Levi quickly made his appearance and tried to takedown the other. He was fast and the other person didn't expect that. Levi sat himself on the stranger's stomach, keeping their hands below their head.

The stranger, however, seemed to know how to handle situation like this, he was able to get free from Levi's tight grip and back away. Levi pointed immediately his gun toward them and they did the same.

"You're not from this ship." The stranger was the first one to speak, their voice little muffled because of the helmet. At least it was sure that the person was male, by the look of his physique and the voice tone, what sounded low.

"Are you the one who destroyed our ship?" Levi asked, staring like a hawk behind his helmet. He was sure someone was responsible for the USG Kellion's mysterious destruction. Did someone want them to stay here? He wasn't sure about that.

"What? What ship?"

"Don't play dumb with me. If you were able to recognize that I'm not from the crew of this ship, you should have an idea about how did I got in here."

"Here you can't really trust any of your senses anymore."

Jean bit his lip and watched the scene from his hiding place. Something odd was going on but he wasn't really sure what it was. Something in this stranger's words were somehow really familiar, like he had heard same kind of words before.

Levi's RIG got a call again but the short man ignored it. He kept his eyes on the stranger, studying his movements and trying to figure out what'd be the next move.

"Who are you?" Levi asked. He wasn't going to let that stranger fool him. For a moment, it looked like the other man was going to lower his gun and give some kind of signs that he wasn't going to be threat, but suddenly his suit let out same kind of sounds what Levi's RIG had let. The man lifted his hand, ready to answer the upcoming call but clearly waiting something.

"Do you mind if I answer?"

"Tch, go ahead. But I'm warning you, any kind of tricks and I won't hesitate to open fire."

The stranger nodded and answered finally. The screen his RIG made was showing a picture of young man, probably someone who was working with him.

"Chief? Where are you, we're in trouble." The voice was shaking and the man looked like he had just seen hell or something as bad.

"Where are you? I'm in the Engineering Deck. What's happening?"

"I'm trying to get closer to _it_. I'm trying, but something is keeping me away from it. I think I encountered people who aren't from the Ishimura's crew. They're not friendly, they tried to shot me. Can I open the fire?"

"I've encountered these people too. Don't open the fire, hide and wait until I get there, you hear me? And don't try to go any closer to it, we have to retreat."

"Agh!"

Loud gunshot echoed on the room and after it, the call ended, leaving the atmosphere very unpleasant. Just after the call ended, another loud sound was on the air. His RIG informed about the dead person.

Jean tried to peek behind the vending machines. The atmosphere was indeed turning into tense and maybe even a dangerous. The call just sealed everything, the stranger was not going to trust Levi. Not after that, hell, no one would trust him in his position. Jean was a little confused about the turn of events. If someone from their group was responsible for it, what would be the reason for killing that man? He sounded innocent. Oh well, Jean couldn't be sure what was the true story behind that event, but it was just very odd.

"Are you the leader of the group? If so, I assume you know that you're responsible for the actions of your group", the man sounded still professional, his voice didn't reveal what he really thought about that video call. Maybe he was used to it by now. After all he had been here longer, he already knew what kind of living hell this whole place was.

Levi was mumbling something, probably cursing and taking a mental note that he was going to punch the brat who was responsible for that. His eyes were soon again on the stranger and he watched how the taller man lifted his gun and pointed it toward the shorter man.

"Are you going to shoot me?" Levi's voice was full of his self-confident, he wasn't scared or anything like that. Even when he was facing the possible death, he was still calm. He knew even though he had gun as well and that he was targeting the stranger, it wouldn't help him much in this situation. He was in a bad position.

"Don't shoot him!"

Jean felt how his heart jumped to his throat. The goosebumps were gathering to skin and shivers went down his spine. He was scared, not for his own life but Marco's. What was he doing? He just revealed his presence!

"Show yourself", the stranger said, looking around now but still keeping an eye on Levi too. Levi probably looked angry behind his helmet, he couldn't believe that the freckled nurse would do something that stupid. Too kind, he assumed.

The closet's door opened and Marco did what the other man had commanded. He showed himself, also showing his hands in case that the stranger would see that he didn't have any kind of weapon with him. He wasn't threat. He wanted the stranger understand that.

The man pointed his gun toward Marco for a moment, until he lowered his hand.

"The Medical deck has fallen, am I right?" He asked and Marco nodded. The man recognized Marco, or at least his suit, and his presence probably affected to the atmosphere.

"There's nothing left. The last time I was there, people fought but most of them didn't survive. I don't know if there's survivors, but the whole place is in a state of chaos." Marco watched the man for a moment, until he decided to continue speaking. "Don't shoot him, he's not dangerous."

"Who are these people? You know I can't trust them just after one of them shot my subordinate."

Levi let out an annoyed grunt. He understood why the stranger was now really skeptical but there hasn't been any chance to tell him anything. He hasn't answered Levi's questions.

"We were sent here to fix problems since the Ishimura sent a distress call. I am Levi Ackerman, USG Kellion's captain and the leader of this mission. We were supposed to fix problems what this ship had, but these problems can't be fixed. And if you're going to ask why we're still here, let me tell you that our little shuttle exploded. Something, no, someone destroyed it." Levi sounded really angry and frustrated, it wasn't anything new and the anyone would be at the same state of mind if they were in his boots.

"Levi Ackerman?"

Levi let out another 'tch' and switched his helmet off, revealing his face to the stranger.

"Are you happy now? Now it's your turn to answer my questions."

The stranger tilted his head a little bit and stared Levi for a moment, until he placed the gun back to its holster.

"Chief Security Officer of the P.C.S.I. Security, Erwin Smith", he introduced himself and switched his helmet off. Levi's eyes met with the blue eyes which belong to the blonde man, standing in front of him. The atmosphere turned a little awkward, Levi turning his head soon away and placing his gun away too.

Marco looked like he had seen a idol of his or something. Maybe he respected Erwin Smith as well, according to Annie this Smith guy wasn't a piece of shit like some other security members had been.

Jean got frustrated and at the same time he got more courage, so he moved away from his hiding place and revealed himself. Bad move though, Erwin was already ready to pick up his gun and shoot if Levi and Marco weren't there to stop him.

"He's no threat, he's one of my engineers", Levi said while Marco moved closer to Jean. Erwin took a long glance of Jean, examining him with his gaze before he nodded and relaxed.

Levi checked who had called him and tried to call back. It was Eren, it was obvious that the brunette tried to contact him. He didn't answer but at least some of them managed to sent a message about their whereabouts.

"Looks like I have to pick up my people from different decks. Reiner and Annie are on the Medical Deck, Eren and Bertholdt are on the Crew Deck and the last ones are on the Maintenance Deck. At least that's where Sasha is located on my map", Levi muttered while updating his RIG's map. The signals seemed to work again, he was able to locate Kellion's crew as well as the people who had joined to their group.

"Wait, you said Annie. Do you mean Annie Leonhart? She's alive?"

All three of them turned their heads towards Erwin, who looked a little surprised. It felt weird, since Erwin was supposed to have his subordinates located on his RIG's map.

"You're supposed to know that, with greater certainty than we are. She belongs to your group, am I correct? At least that's what she told me", Jean said and wrinkled his nose. He was surprised by the fact that Erwin really looked like he heard that first time.

"How can I know when my RIG shows some of my group members alive even though I know they are dead?" Erwin asked, his voice calm and cold. He was full of self-assurance. However, his eyes. They were full of something none of them had seen before. Sometimes it looked like Erwin had already lost his zest for life and sometimes it looked like he was fighting with his inner demons.

After staring at his mysterious eyes for a while, Jean realized he had actually seen same kind of eyes before.

Annie.

Her eyes had looked like Erwin's eyes looked now. Between the lack of willpower to continue living and fight with his inner demons. Whatever those demons were, Annie and Erwin were really stuck in a severe test. If they were going to lose that battle, what would happen to them?

No, more importantly, what caused that? Jean didn't know and he was sure others didn't know that either. His mind was soon stuffed with a new question.

Was that same state of mind going to take over him at some point?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you might already know, I had a lot of things going on during the end of May and beginning of the June. Summer job, graduation, cottage trip, Desucon and then the worst of them: lack of inspiration. And then of course my desktop decided to betray me and I had to wait until my dad and uncle fixed it. It's not what it used to be before but at least it's working again and none of my writings were gone \ (•◡•) /
> 
> I'm getting more slow with this and lack some inspiration. I have things planned on, but they're something what can't happen yet. But I think we're getting to that point when they can start to happen and I'm somehow excited about it.
> 
> My lack of inspiration has made me angry to myself because I want to write as long as I can but sometimes it just can't be done that way. So I am asking you guys now, do you prefer long chapters or a little shorter ones? Because if I'm going to write long chapters, it will take more time if the lack of inspiration attacks. I want to return back to my old updating schedule but it might be impossible with this inspiration problem >n


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